Love is like A Good Anime, Right?
by Amateur Marauder
Summary: An Inbetweener lands at Musashino Animation; a place where everything that can go wrong will always go wrong. Add in his grueling job of tracing hundreds of frames, haphazardly falling in love with a girl he shouldn't have, and being a relative newbie to his job, he figures to have hell on Earth, and a hell of a time being there. Oh well, at least the curry is good.
1. Send Him In

_**Authors Note:**_ _I know what you're thinking. "Yet another fanfiction cliché where the OC gets thrown in for whatever reason, falls in love with one of the main characters via some forced romance, and the story focuses on them and only them, while ignoring the rest of the setting the two had before they met. Their relationship means that both of them are happy and nothing bad ever happens and they ride off into the sunset and drop their lives for the others happiness. *close page* *new tab*"_

 _I'm trying to redefine that cliché, with this story. The purpose of me writing this fanfic, other than me wanting to do some work with Shirobako, was to see how well I could write a realistic romance that was the "B" story and not be the primary focus of the text. Shirobako presents a unique challenge to me. Of all the stories I have ever written, the most realistic OC's I have ever created were in unreal stories; Harry Potter and Naruto. As you can see, far from true realism. Adding in the fact the last set of OC's I put into fanfictions were cool when I wrote them, but looking back on it, they just annoy me as to how I go out of my way just to make them stand out in one way or another. Creating a character in such a normal slice-of-life but hysterical anime such as Shirobako will give me the perfect opportunity to practice this. As for the romance, I want to try my hand at making a realistic romance when both parties have actual jobs and lives, not that high school romance style where they are attatched to one another simply because they see each other 5 days a week. I haven't seen an anime love interest occur naturally. Besides, I have never written romance. Not once!_

 _I'm getting off topic._

 _The point of me writing this note is to give you a good synopsis, and fanfics preview character limit is too low for me, haha. This story consists of a character equally as realistic as all the others in the series. Strengths, Weaknesses, Goals, etc. The story will shift between his love interest, to his life itself revolving around anime with all other character in this series, and to the unappreciated job of being an Inbetweener, and onto the motives of other characters, and the general debauchery that tends to happen on a daily basis at Musashino Animation. Not every scene will focus on him, but he will be with a Shirobako Character when he is, in attempts to give each character screen time and show how interconnected Musani really is._

 _Anyways, that's what to expect. I just had to give you this in detail, because I'm sure you are equally tired as I of seeing the "OC falls in love with a main character" cliché on this site. But please, review and let me know how you feel. If not, thank you for clicking and even reading this far._

 _Now, I'll stop talking and get into the story, I'll leave my notes to be faaaar shorter and at the end of chapters now._

 _~Please Enjoy_

 **Episode One**

" **Send Him In"**

 _Miyamori heads the interviews for Musani as they are in the midst of their "Golden Age" before heading into their newest project. Who will make the cut?_

To say Musashino Animation has been on a roll lately would be an understatement. After surprisingly landing and launching a critically acclaimed first season of _Third Aerial Girls Squad_ , the studio not only virtually healed its reputation, but also made it desirable for outsiders to work for and more key animators, voice actors and authors to work with. In the following summer, they began airing the crowd pleasing pirate manga adaptation _Two Piece,_ putting out more quality work casual anime fans and Otaku alike have gradually begun to expect from them. They wasted no time in shocking the world again. About two weeks before they aired the second episode of _Two Piece_ (in a timely fashion no less!) they fought for, and ultimately won, an uphill battle for a second season to _Exodus!_ The commercial success and thoroughly well animated stories of _Third Aerial Girls Squad_ and the strong initial buzz surrounding _Two Piece_ led to more interest in the studio. This unexpectedly sold more Blu-Ray copies of _Exodus!_ season 1, and created an unforeseen interest in the anime's continuation. Even despite the most hellish time the studio has ever faced running two weekly anime series, they managed to survive, thrive and become the one of the hottest names in anime.

In the hours after Musani was green lighted for a second season of _Exodus!_ , the studio wasted no time in spending money to procure temporary part time help to assist them. They weren't built to handle two demanding projects at one time, but they'd be damned if they didn't try. Key Animators, Inbetweeners, Production Assistants, you name it. At the conclusion of the fourteen episode first season of Two Piece however, half were let go at the turn of the New Year. The ending of _Exodus!_ following it in late summer, even more were expected to be let go, rather than to truly be hired. Musani had rumors circling of their own original movie, _Border-town Depopulation Girl._ However, since the studio had given no official dates, they had the full flexibility to work on it at their own pace.

This brings us to the present. Today in the conference room on the top floor of the studio the final interviews were being conducted for the remaining part timers that were not already hired.

"This is going to be a hard one, some of them have given up a lot to stay with us."

 _Masato Marukawa – President_

As he looked through his stack of papers through his silver rimmed glasses, he sighed. His usual smile on a temporary hiatus. Ordinarily, interviews make him smile, giving Musani new faces. However the possibility of letting some hard working employees go, forced him to trade the bright smile for a graver expression.

Giving herself an idea of what to expect, a blonde-haired, blue eyed female shifted through a stack of papers looking at the names and bodies of work of many of her. She looked as bright eyed and motivated as ever, staving off the physical signs of a high stress environment after almost four years of work for Musashino. "I want to keep all of them, especially after how good _Exodus_ ended." She sighed. "Unfortunately, that's not the case."

 _Aoi Miyamori – Production Desk_

On the other side of the director sat a dark haired woman. From under the bangs of her short cut hair, both of her hands were on her phone, her thumbs tapping the screen at a blistering pace. "Well, we aren't letting all of them go. We are working on _Border-Town Depopulation Girl_ in a few short weeks. Don't let go of all of the help."

 _Yuka Okitsu – General Manager_

Aoi sighed. "Well, even if they can't work here, they're one step closer to their own dreams! They will find work somewhere, I'm sure of it!"

"Well, that is true. All of them can't work here, but all of them can work somewhere This is fact." Marukawa smiled. "When's the first one coming in?"

The Production Desk checked the schedule in front of her. Twenty-two total prospective employees. "The first one should be coming in any moment now, he's scheduled for 10:15."

"Who is it?" the president asked.

"An Inbetween. Minato Shimura." The blonde producer responded.

"Ah! Was he the one who worked on Yashuhara's key frames when we had to move her to from _Two Piece_?"

Aoi smiled. "Yes! Actually, he helped with key frames more than once!"

Sending and receiving emails at what seemed like about fifteen per second, Yuka Okitsu looked up from her phone's screen. "So he's the one who was gave Misato Segawa those headaches."

"Really?" President Marukawa asked. "Surely he couldn't have been that bad if he did it more than once?"

"She reported that his designs weren't inherently bad, just nowhere as good as she needed them to be. Compare his designs to Yashuhara's and they looked even worse. He needs more experience. More discipline."

"Hmm… it's possible that we can let him go, and if need be, call him in the future. Add him as another contact for Musani in case we are in need of another key animator."

Miyamori objected. "But he is surrounded by many good animators he can learn from. Suigie, Ogasawara and Iguchi all taught Yashuhara, and he's been doing a lot of inbetweening on Ema's drawings so he has that to study from!"

Conveniently ignoring one night a lot of the staff mistakenly met up on an impromptu drinking outing, Miyamori had only run into Minato three times, and two of those times were telling her telling him that Segawa thought his designs were bad. However his dream was to make an anime of his own, and he took all of the criticism with grace. Plus, Aoi didn't want to see anyone's dream of anime creation take such a setback, especially after a year and a half for Musani.

"We should delay this conversation, at least until we see him once more." Yuka stated, putting her phone away in her purse before dropping the purse to the floor and out of sight. "Are we ready?"

"Yes!"

"Now's as good a time as any!"

"Well," Yuka looked at her watch, and then looked to Miyamori nodded. "Send him in."

Next time on _Love is Like… Anime, Right?_ Episode Two: "Should I Bring Cheese?"


	2. Should I Bring Cheese?

**Chapter Two**

" **Should I Bring Cheese?"**

 _Minato Shimura receives some impressive work from Tarou Takanashi. Meanwhile, the girls meet up! What has changed in the six months following the conclusion of Aerial Girls?_

~ _One Year Prior…_

Minato Shimura hunched over his desk so much so that his glasses may as well have been attached to the paper. If his back could speak, it would be crying out in anger about his god awful posture. His left hand would reject holding his pencil if it had free will of its own. His neck was in such an irritating pain that felt as if he slept on it in a horrible position for several hours. His lower body just begged to stand and stop sitting for the first time in what felt like days. Then, just as he was at his physical and mental limits, he slammed his pencil down on the surface of the desk in victory.

"Finally!" he cried in victory.

His coworker on the other hand, didn't seem to share the same enthusiasm for his accomplishment. "Finally done with that cut you were supposed to have done yesterday?"

 _Matsui Oda – Inbetweening_

Minato backed up and returned to an upright posture, while looking for the source of smart comment. "Yes, Oda! I told you I'd be done!"

Matsui smiled as he flipped through his series of cuts, and grabbed a new pencil. "Eitherway, I'm still impressed. I thought it would take you to the end of the week."

"Oh shut up, this isn't a race!"

Matsui smiled and stretched his arms to the ceiling. "I'm just stating facts. No need to get testy, four-eyes.

Minato glared at Matsui. "You're just upset you have a large forehead and your bangs don't cover it up." This was met with a death glare from his fellow employee. "I'm going to turn these cuts in go home before Production shows up again with more work."

Matsui returned to his work. "Who? Hiraoka?"

Minato rose to his feet as he shoved the papers into his cut bags. "Unfortunately." Minato groaned, but quietly enough so that nobody heard. He didn't want to run the risk of being known as that part time help who got too mouthy. "Hiraoka has been out for the past two days. Something about gathering key frames from a studio a few hours away and got stuck. So Tarou is watching me while he's here."

As if waiting for this very moment, a familiar blonde haired production assistant appeared. (Or Head Production Assistant, depending on who you spoke to. Usually Tarou Takanashi himself.) "You called?"

The two Inbetweeners jumped backwards at the starling appearance of the Assistant.

"Gah!" Matsui cried, drawing a line off it's intended path. "You have to warn us before you pop out like that, Takanashi!"

Question marks appeared over Taoru's head. "Why? You're the ones who called me after all."

 _Taoru Takanashi – Head Production Assistant_

Minato sighed. "Well, I don't think we-"

"Ah! Minato, I knew there was a reason you called me!"

"But I didn't call-"

"You wanted more work right!?" Tarou emitted with a smile.

Minato and Matsui both cocked their heads to the side in confusion. "But I didn't-"

Taoru slammed a handheld bag, containing multiple cut bags, all of which sounded heavy on the individual level, sending a resounding thud echoing off of the desk.

"Hiraoka didn't tell me about this." Minato sighed.

Taoru retrieved a single brown cut bag from the mass of them. "He was going to, but he didn't figure you'd have your work done by today to give you the next cut. Besides, he is on his way back from being stuck a few hours away." Tarou's speech suddenly turned into a dramatic monologue. "Therefore! He called upon me! The secret weapon of Musani, the great Tarou Takanashi, to assist in his time of need!"

With squinted eyes, Minato took the cut. "I know I haven't been here long, but that might be pushing it a little…"

Matsui returned to his work. "A little? Only a little? You don't want to go any further than that?"

Tarou wrapped his right arm around Minato's shoulders, causing the dark haired twenty-something year old to hunch over. "Nonsense! Tarou Takanashi is going straight to the top of Japanimation!" he balled his fist and raised it high. "And I'll take all of Musani with me! Including Minato…. Uh..." He suddenly trailed off. "What's your last name?"

Minato tried to adjust the Tarou's arm after the youth had such a strong grip. "Shimura…"

"MINATO SHIMURA!"

Matsui couldn't hold back laughing. "Yeah, you're a real dream team, you know that?"

Tarou smiled. "My greatness works up an appetite sometimes. Let's grab some barbeque!"

Minato rubbed his neck as he removed Taoru's arm from it. Well, since there was no arguing, with Taoru, and there was never any food at his house because he never felt like shopping, he figured he could settle for slightly more than a convenience store bento box.

"Yeah, I guess I could. Let me take a look at this new cut and hand my work over to Doumoto." Minato said. "What about you Matsui?"

Matsui hadn't yet had the pleasure of working with Takanashi, but he knew from stories that it was no telling the guy "no", unless you were Erika Yano, who's smile is known to multiply fear. "I'm, almost done with this cut, so I see no reason not to. Just a few more frames and I'll call you."

"Awesome! I'll see you! Bring your appetites and your livers!" Takanashi smiled before leaving, humming the whole day away.

With that, the blonde haired assistant left as quickly as he arrived.

"You know, I think he has a few screws loose." Minato mumbled.

Matsui resumed his drawing, virtually unfazed. "To work at Musashino Productions, I think you have to have several loose."

Minato shrugged his shoulders. "Can't argue with you there."

Minato sat down at his desk once more, and opened the new cut bag. He checked the Key Animator responsible; Ema Yasuhara. He hadn't met her yet.

He sat down, and looked at the new frames handed to him. He had to remove his jaw from the floor once he finished.

"Oh this'll take me forever." He complained immediatley.

"Hm?"

"This cut, these key frames, they'll take forever." Minato sighed. "Here, look at this."

Matsui backed away from his own desk to see what Minato was talking about, and he was equally impressed.

The cut was one of Ape J. Ruffy, the main character of _Two_ _Piece_. The first frame has a charging Boar running at him from the top left of the screen frame. Because the main character has the ability to stretch any part of his body, this is followed by the wind up of the main characters arm while still behind his back. The next three frames are the stretch of his arm, and release of his punch. The largest, last, and most complicated of the frames, is a behind-the-back shot of Ruffy actually punching the charging boar using the most impressive display of depth Minato had ever seen. The body of Ruffy is concentrated to the bottom right of the page, but dominates that half of the entire frame. On the top right, the viewer observes the arm of Ruffy, curling on the right side edge stretching to the center of the top half of the frame. The right side of the boars face receives the blow, and it's head points to the top left corner of the page.

The most impressive hidden gem of this image is how the body of the boar looks, as opposed to the head. The head looks comical in getting hit, but the body almost aligns with the curve of Ruffy's arm, noting that Yashuhara didn't forget about the physics involved. The momentum of the boars body doesn't stop, even as the head does. This head in the upper left quadrant of the page points to the top, and even through the body is entirely on the right side of the page, it's legs point to the bottom left quadrant, directly to Ruffy's left leg, of only which his thigh, knee and upper portion of his shin are visible. This leads back into his curving back, his curving arm, and the boar on the other side of his detailed fist. The entire frame is one large circle.

This particular frame would only be on screen for hardly even three total seconds as it's intent was to be a panning still-frame, she hadn't skipped on even the slightest bit of detail.

An image that could have only be drawn by a goddess.

"She's good." Matsui handed the cut back to Minato.

"I'll have to bring my bike here for the next few days. The first train to last train shift won't give me enough time." Animated tears flowed from the eyes of Minato as miniature waterfalls. "I hate biking uphill."

"Jeez, Minato. Should bring cheese? After all, you decided to bring all of this WHINE!"

Minato wasted no time striking Matsui over the back of the head with the cut. "I said, shut it!"

Messy tied hair and dried pale skin was enough to make Shizuka Sakaki want to clock out early from her shift and take the longest shower of her life back at her apartment. Finishing their standard dinner rush and cleaning the place was enough to tire her, but today was much harder than normal in a way that is tough to explain sometimes. She just didn't feel in the best of moods. Add in that the customers today were particularly demanding and rude, and her brain felt that this week it didn't feel particularly keen on producing Dopamine, she almost wanted to quit and stay in her small apartment until she felt like leaving it in 4-7 days. Of course, she was able to grin and bear it with a smile, knowing how much she likes working here and that starting over with a new job would provide more problems in her life.

Unless it was voice acting. Then she would gladly take all of the associated problems with work in that area.

Not as if she needed Matsutei to add work related frustration into her life, she had plenty of that on her own. In the months following the release of Aerial girls, Sakaki had undoubtedly taken a large step in her careers progression in impressing with her role as Lucy in the final episode of Third Aerial Girls Squad. The number of auditions she takes part in has increased as a result, but that has only led to three small roles. The first being three months ago the thriller/horror anime _Assault on Giants_ as a girl who makes an appearance in one episode beside the main characters, only to end up as mere "Giant Fodder" at the end of the episode. She was brought in as an extra in the first episode "Weekly Life With Monster Men, a Reverse-Harem anime, to play the role of a child screaming for their mothers attention, simply to have the main female character run into the first of her several monster husbands. Musani wanted to help her, and she was given a role in _Two Piece_ where she acts as a tour guide for three episodes helping the main characters pirate crew. Unfortunately, she was told to expect roughly about fifteen total lines amongst the three episodes, which would enough screentime to impress.

She was thankful that her career had taken a larger step forward, because a few short months ago, she had nothing on film with her own name attached to it. No longer just casted as an "extra" in making baseball crowd noise. Yet her frustration was setting in as the auditions and subsequent rejections kept piling on, and she kept hearing the same thing.

"You're good, you just don't fit the role."

It was enough to make her flip the table she was supposed to be cleaning.

"Ah, Zuka-chan!"

Shizuka stopped rubbing the rag over the same spot on the table for what felt like hours, and looked up to see Ema Yasuhara.

"Ema! You're early!" Shizuka smiled.

"I finished my work early, and I was going to wait for Oi-chan, but she said she'd be a little late. She had to go get some Key Frames from Segawa." Ema said, walking in slowly.

Forcing herself in the doorway, almost moving through Behind her was another friend, Midori Imai. "Zuka-chan-senpai!"

"Rii-Chan!"

The two girls hugged each other in a strong embrace, with Midori conveniently ignoring that Shizuka smelled like cleaning products and old food.

"I haven't seen you since we finished Aerial Girls!" Midori exclaimed, prompting Shizuka to smile that nobody was in the restaurant to give Midori's loud demeanor harsh looks over their evening meal.

"Sorry!" Shizuka said, grinning and nervously rubbing the back of her neck. "I've been really busy since then with auditions."

Ema stepped forward to greet her friend. "We all have been busy. Glad to see you're ok." The two hugged.

Midori took her seat, setting her purse down by her side. "One beer, Zuka-chan!" she laughed.

Shizuka ordinarily would have smiled and rushed to the tap, but after a hard long day of taking care of the same order from customers she was understandably less than thrilled.

She turned to retreat behind the bar, and there stood the owner of the pub. "Nonsense, Sakaki."he began. "Enjoy your evening. Of course, drinks are on the house tonight, great work today."

Shizuka held her hands together and bowed. "Thank you sir!"

Aoi Miyamori sipped her beer, after chugging almost half of it. "Busy, busy busy. That's all production desk does. I can't remember the last time I got to take a day off. I don't even want to know how it's going to go when we start work on two projects at once."

Ema Yasuhara agreed, washing a bite of her pork down with her Apple Sour. "It has been a while. And it's only going to get worse."

Misa Toudou sat to Aoi's left, and disagreed. Swirling her drink, she sulked. "I've been looking for more work. Now that we won't work on _Aerial Girls_ for a while, we've needed to find new 3-D work now that Muasni doesn't need much C.G. work for a while."

"Not true." Aoi said. "We still use some 3-D work."

"Not nearly as much as Aerial Girls. You can do mostly all of it in house." Mii sighed, and rested her arm on her shoulder. "Ah, well. Can't be helped."

Shizuka sipped her beer. _Must be nice to have work._

Midori Imai finished the last of her own beer. She needed to change the topic, if even a little. Before, they could all sulk in their problems over food and alcohol, and she would feel better at the end of their sessions, but not now. Personally, she was having the time of her life working at Musani. Helping research settings for the directors, finding props for the animators and just going to Musani was exactly what she loved waking up for. These days, more and more of her lines began to make appearances in the final scripts of the anime. Of course, her parents weren't exactly thrilled her career path ventured off course from their expectations of her becoming a Salary Woman, but it hardly came as a surprise to them.

"Shizuka, how has voice acting been for you recently?" she asked, hoping to hear some slightly more upbeat news.

All eyes focused on Shizuka, to which point hers fell to the table, and Midori knew that she wouldn't get the news she was looking for.

"Well, I've been getting more and more auditions." She began. "Had a few small roles, but nothing major. It all looks a little more promising these days though."

"I was sure you would take off after the conclusion of _Aerial Girls_." Ema Yasuhara replied.

Shizuka grinned at the take-off pun on _Aerial Girls_. "Well, it was a great step forward. But it was just that, a step."

Aoi could sense the slight discouragement in Shizuka's voice. "But you have something on film, so that helps a lot!"

"Yes!" Midori added. "And you were just part of _Two Piece_ for a few episodes."

Shizuka returned her lips to the rim of her drink. "Well, I still lack experience. And me applying for the role of children much like Lucy hasn't seen much results."

The entire table sighed.

Yasuhara, the most silent of the group, broke the awkward silence. "Well, when we make _7 Lucky Battle Gods_ , you won't have to worry about this. Everyone will want you to act!"

Misa smiled and agreed. "Exactly! You'll be the hottest name in anime! Just wait!"

"We'll all be recruited by all the studios to work for them!" Midori screamed as she held her drink high.

"We could even make our own studio!" Aoi screamed.

Laughter overtook the table, and soon after, each girl put in a new drink order.

Next on _Love is Like…a Good Anime, Right? : Chapter Three: "So, it begins?"_

 **Authors Note:** Thank you for reading. Apologies if this chapter may have been a bit on the boring side. I use the first chapter to set up most of the plot and its setting, followed by the second chapter to set up more of the characters. After that, the plot becomes the central focus. In theory, this gives the reader a good idea of the characters we're mostly dealing with, a chance to see the characters before the plot takes off. That way, you can notice the changes the plot pushes on them instead of taking it as a part of who they are. Aids the character development and world building so I don't have to smash my head at the wall trying to set the universe without just throwing in convenient plot devices later in the writing.

Oh, one more. A very special shoutout to fellow creator Phen0m20. After reading his work for a while, his writing makes me want to step my game up. You can see all of the time and energy he puts into his own stories. Through our dialogue around this time, last year, when I decided to end my last big project (Team 8 Chunin Exams – Naruto), I haven't written much. Not for lack of trying of course, just in the rut of life and going through THE wall that all creatives go through. In speaking with him briefly and reading his stories, I've found my inspiration rise enough to attempt another big project, hence this one. If you've never read his stories, definitely check his account.

As always, reviews make my world go around. Criticism hits me equally as much as praise, don't be afraid, haha. Until next time!


	3. So, It Begins?

**Episode 3**

"So, It Begins"

 _Musashino Productions airs the first Episode of Two Piece without delay. The celebration is cut short for Tsubaki Ando however. Meanwhile, Kinoshita Seiichi has no idea where to go for Exodus's second season. Meanwhile, Yumi Iguchi continues to play the role of Sensei to the animation youth of Musani._

Matsui Oda slammed his mug down with a sigh. Flinging his head back to the ceiling, his long dark hair fell over his shoulders. "Ah, Minato. We've done so much work on Two Piece we haven't had time to work on our own anime."

Minato agreed, slurping the hot noodles from his bowl of spicy pork ramen. "I still haven't finished the character designs for Miharu. Inora is going to kill us."

Matsui took another bite of his beef cut. "Ugh, that is true. I haven't even finished the setting designs. Oh well, Inora hasn't even found us a voice actor yet, so we got time. Well, at least Two Piece airs tonight."

"Yeah, we get to see some type of payoff. Speaking of which." Minato began searching for the waitress at the establishment, "Excuse me, miss?"

Across the counter of the pub, he flagged the attention of the waitress cleaning the other end of the bar. She looked up from taking finished plates off of the counter, and at Minato's request, she immediately stashed them underneath the bar and out of view.

"How can I help you?" she asked, running over to assist her the two animators at the bar.

"I was wondering if you could turn on the television. Two Piece airs tonight, and I was hoping to see it." Minato asked.

She smiled. Although Minato and Matsui could tell it was forced, it was still a pretty one. "I'd be happy to. Well, let me find the remote somewhere back here."

Matsui laughed. "Are we the first ones to ask in a while?"

A question mark appeared over her head. "I think you're the first ones to ever ask."

She retreated beneath the view of the table for a few moments, clutching a black television remote, its buttons caked with a layer of dust.

"I believe its on… this channel. Right?" she asked, turning the wall-mounted flat screen on and flipping through channels.

"Yes. Minato agreed. "This is Martial Arts Bear!" he smiled as he looked to see a Grizzly Bear learning fighting styles from a Koala. "Two Piece follows the broadcast of this, so I think this is the station."

The waitress placed the remote beneath the bar again. "I'm happy to help. IF you need anything else, please don't hesitate to let me know!"

The two men responded, and as if on command, the owner of the establishment appeared from the doorway that led to the employees-only area of the pub.

"Ah, Sakaki. I need your help back here for a few minutes."

"Yes sir, I'll be back their shortly!"

He nodded. "Ah, but can you refills that man's beer once more?"

"Yes sir." She obeyed.

Quickly snatching his mug, and replacing it with a cleaner one, she pulled the lever of the tap, filling it with amber colored liquid.

"Here you are sir." She said to Matsui, sliding the cold glass across the hardwood counter.

"No. Thank you." He said, rising the the cold glass slightly in the air before placing glass to his lips.

She smiled at Minato and Matsui, and retreated back to the restaurant.

"She's cute." Minato began. "You should talk to her."

"You're forgetting that not only am I not into redheads, I am also engaged." Matsui said, a long swig of his beer following his sentence.

"Ah right, I keep forgetting that." Minato replied with a mouthful.

Matsui asked, "Why don't you go after her?"

To which Minato sighed. "Oh, her? She's way out of my league. As if that would ever happen."

"Matsui laughed. "You're right. I keep forgetting that."

Minato sunk in his chair. "I hate you…"

* * *

With folded arms, Kinoshita Seiichi tapped his right foot as hard as he could on the carpeted floor. His mind worrying on a million different possibilities, and none of the outcomes came out particularly good. His face showed the worry and concern taking place in his head, and even then his cheeks threatened to swell up, he was holding them so tight. If that wasn't enough to think that his blood pressure wasn't increasing, beads of sweat poured down his head, and his face turned pink several times. This implied he had to remember to tell himself to breathe.

"Episode One is going to be the most anticipated episode of the year! I'm so excited!"

 _Tsubaki Andou - Production Assistant_

"Well, the wait is over. I've never been on a project with so much hype before!"

 _Yumi Iguchi – General Animation, Supervisor Assistant_

"We've been working on them for so long, it'll almost look odd to not see them on paper."

 _Ema Yasuhara – Key Animator, Supervisor Assistant_

"The number of tweets we are getting about this is amazing! I have to hit refresh every second! People are so excited!"

 _Hironori Madoka – Animation Director_

"I've said it once. I've said it a thousand times. You spend too much time on the internet, Madoka."

 _Masashi Yamada – Animation Director_

"Less than a minute to go! It seems like we just started this last week!"

 _Erika Yano – Head Production Assistant_

"I hope you all enjoy this episode! From start to finish, it is packed with Takanashi's heart and soul and comes with the patented Tarou Takanashi quality guarantee!"

 _Tarou Takanashi – Production Assistant_

"Everyone, there is plenty more curry. Please, eat up!"

 _Masahito Marukawa – President_

"I want to see all of them move, it always feels so amazing!"

 _Aoi Miyamori – Production Desk_

"Here it comes!"

 _Yuuichirou Shimoyanagi – 3D Director_

At once, every eye in the conference room was trained on the TV at the end of the table. Gasps of excitement escaped everyone's mouth as the screen played, and the music played.

* * *

Sitting at her table, Misato Segawa took a sip of her water while she waited for her Fried Chicken Bento box to cool in front of her. In the far corner of her apartment, her usually unplugged television was active once more. On it, the theme song and title sequence was playing, and she couldn't help but smile. After all, she was the one who did the most work on it. Of all the Key Frames she was to produce, it was the most fun for her because this time, Director Kinoshita just told her to have fun with it. Although, she did hate the music piece she was supposed to have the frames pair with. You can only listen to the same forty second clip of music for so long before you want to go to the artist and sound team and want to raze the studio to the ground.

Picking up her chopsticks, she mumbled to herself. "Well, so it begins."

* * *

With a lit cigarette in his mouth, the dark purple haired Jun Watanabe was never one for gathering in the large fanfair of first episode airing. That only meant that the true twelve to fourteen weeks of nonstop franticness synonymous to hell were about to begin for he and his crew. For now however, he was satisfied to see that the project he and Nabe-P work so hard to get finally come into fruition. Playing Majong in this tavern would be as close as he would come to celebrating. He inwardly smiled as the characters on the screen popped up, nodding his head to the great work that Yumi Iguchi had done.

"Hm. Looks like we begin."

* * *

Shizuka Sakaki grabbed more dirty plates from the tables and hurried them to the back as the anime began, as this would prevent the extra noise from happening later during the broadcast. As she returned to the front, she stood nearby the two customers sitting directly in front of the television.

"Which anime is this?" she asked.

The one with glasses answered first. "Two Piece."

Oh, that's the one the girls are working on. Her eyes were trained on the characters. Soon, she would be on that was going to have her shot, and that's all she needed to keep going. This would only open up more doors.

 _Soon._

"And now it begins." They all mumbled to themselves in unison.

* * *

~ The Following Morning

~ Knock knock!

"Hello! This is Tsubaki Ando from Musashino Productions looking to collect the Key Frames of Two Piece Episode Seven."

A cheerful innocent chant and smile was met with no response. A pity, because she wanted to grab the Key Frames and go, because the humid mid-July heat was raging across the country. The more she stood in the sun, the more she could literally feel her energy being sapped.

She knocked once more, her enthusiasm not taking a backwards step. "Hello! This is Tsubaki Ando for Musashino Productions!"

A muffled voice was just barely audible from the other side of the apartment door.

"I heard you the first time."

The door was cracked open, and the Key Animator hung in the doorway. A woman with a cut bag in her left arm's embrace leaned against the doorway, giving Tsubaki an aloof expression.

"Hello, Tsubaki." She said. "Sorry to have you come out here for nothing, I called your desk but you were out."

"It's fine." She said. "I was coming here to pick up the Key Frames."

"Long story short." The she began. "I took another job so I won't be able to take care of the episode. Sorry about that."

Ando might have not known a lot about her job being so new at it, but she could tell immediately that her Key Animator wasn't genuinely sorry.

"What do you mean!?" she asked back, trying not to scream in panic. Maybe this was all a bad prank, or even a joke.

"Yeah, sorry. Alpha Pictures called and they need a scene done. So I'm taking care of that."

"As in instead of?"

"Precisely." She said, handing the cut back back to Ando.

"But you said you'd do it!" Tsubaki pleaded.

"Sorry about that." She said.

The door slammed in her face and with tears in her eyes, Tsubaki stared at the other side of the apartment. She immediately opened her cutbag, just to ensure that all of this wasn't real. However, she noticed the blank pages, and everything was exactly as it was when Tsubaki dropped it off a week ago.

Slowly moving to her car, tears flowed with ease.

"What am I going to do now?"

* * *

"You want what, Oi-chan?" Yasuhara asked.

"The director said that this frame needs to look more…" the blonde Production Desk put her finger over her mouth to think. "He just said he wants to have her… appear more aggressive, but still retain her cuteness. And her scary face needs to be made… scarier with all of that in mind."

Ema put the pencil to her lips. "Aggressive, look cuter, and a scarier scary face all at the same time. That doesn't exactly sound possible."

Miyamori bowed. "I apologize. Do you think it's possible by the end of tomorrow?"

Checking the sunflower shaped clock on the left corner of her desk, Ema sighed. Enough with the retakes. "I think I can have it done by then. Would a rough sketch work first?"

Aoi thought carefully. If she said yes, she would have to track down the director with the sketch and ask, and who knows how long that would take to find him, assuming it's even a yes. However, if she said no, and the director ends up wanting yet another retake, then she would have to have Ema stop progress on her current assignment for the second time. Either method made Aoi want to rip her hair out thinking of the worst case scenario.

But then again, thinking of the worst case scenario was part of being in production. If it happens, you saw it coming and you can be that much closer to accepting it and figuring it out. If not, you're happy because it didn't happen.

"I'll take the rough sketch to the director, but if you could have that done for the end of the day though, that'll make it easier. He'll be in dubbings all day tomorrow."

Inwardly, Ema made an incoherent grunt of frustration that sounds like a noise that could only escape an angry Ogre. "All right, I think I have something."

Aoi wasted no time in bowing before the overworked Key Animator. "Thank you, Ema. Thank you for all your hard work!"

A disgruntled Ema didn't allow her mood to affect her outward reaction. "No problem, Oi-chan."

With a desperately forced wink and a smile, Aoi Miyamori scurried off to handle another one of the dozens of her tasks scheduled for the hour. This left the confused Key Animator to lean back in her chair and uncharacteristically sigh in defeat. She was sure that her Key Frame was perfect, so why was the director asking for such vague nuances? He's never had this kind of problem with her drawings before.

"Relax, Emmachi-san."

Ema looked to see Yumi Iguchi, Masani's character designer, Key Animator, and at times, Ema's sensei and therapy human.

"Don't worry about it too much. The director asks for a lot of retakes when he is most stressed about a new project." She said, steaming coffee in front of her face hiding her relaxing smile.

"But I thought he got over that when we finally aired Episode One." Ema sighed. "How long will it be like this?"

Yumi took a sip of her coffee and looked to the ceiling to think. "Ah, I must've forgot. He is probably stuck on Exodus! then. Much shame. Such wow." She shook her head towards the end of her sentence.

"Oh, I didn't know he gets like this often."

"He'll get over this eventually. Just grin and bear it for a while. Comes with the job." Yumi replied.

Turning to leave, she almost bumped into a passing figure, the white haired production assistant Hiroaka Daisuke.

"Oh, excuse me. Sorry about that." She said.

Daisuke brushed past her, his thoughts on an entirely different realm. "It's fine."

He continued his path of movement on the blue carpet, in search of answers. Non-pressing answers in reality, but Daisuke's urgent task was to complete Episode Eight. At its current status, it was not done. And nothing upsets him more than when his anime isn't done. The episode in question was in the inbetwenting state. Only two cuts remained one to be finished, one to be finished in a little over an hour, and leaving one to be the work of…

"Minato Shimura?" Hiraoka asked, turning the corner of the cubicles.

The dark haired inbetweener looked up, adjusting his glasses with his free hand. "Daisuke. Yes?" Trying to his any trace of annoyance.

Unfortunatley for those involved with Episode Eight, Daisuke wasn't the most polite when asking for anything. In the industry there were plenty of Production Assistants that acted the same as her, so it wasn't anything new. However, compare his attitudes to Aoi Miyamori, Tsubaki Ando, or hell even Tarou Takanashi, it was clear to that Musani was not the place for the snowy haired youth.

Daisuke glared down upon Minato through his own wire rimmed frames. "The cut for my episode, is it done yet? Takanashi said you were working on it, but you didn't leave me an email to tell me you were starting on it."

Minato bit his tongue. "It isn't. The cut I finished yesterday was handed back this morning. The director wanted a key frame to go back for a retake, so I had to redo a few sheets."

"Still? It's almost the end of the day, you should at least have that done by now."

Minato's blood began to simmer. "I apologize. I don't have four arms and another set of eyes to do two cuts at the same time. Until then, I'll work on this one and then I'll email you the second I start your cut."

Hiraoka sneered at the comment. "Don't get testy, all you're doing is tracing. I need it done a faster than you're doing."

Minato tried to keep his voice under control. The last thing he wanted to do is make a scene. However, he took offense to that comment. How dare he refer to his job as only tracing? Then you do it! "All I'm doing is tracing!?"

Daisuke turned around and made his way back to his desk in the Production office. "I don't have time to argue with some mouthy part timer. If you want to work here, or anywhere else in this industry for that matter, start acting like it."

As quickly and silently as he arrived, Daisuke left.

Minato balled his fist so tightly, he snapped his pencil. "damn him…" he mumbled. "I really…. Really… really hate that guy."

Before he could even reach for a new one, Yumi Iguchi appeared in the opening to the cubicles of his set of cubicles, holding coffee in one hand, and a donut in the other.

"Shimura, was it?" she asked.

Minato tried to trade in his angry expression for a more respectful one. "Yes."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Yumi Iguchi." She said. "Come on, let's go on a lunch break."

Minato inwardly smiled that she was trying to comfort him and give him some sagely advice. "I'm sorry, I already ate a half hour ago."

Iguchi's face hadn't even changed. "Then come watch Emmachi and I eat."

Walking to Iguchi's side, another dark haired key animator appeared, holding a light brown doughnut of her own. Long beautiful hair that she pulled to pigtails on each side of her head. Perfect green eyes. A brown blazer with a white shirt underneath and a short skirt alternating vertical stripes of blue and white.

"Good afternoon." She said. "I'm Ema Yasuhara."

Minato's brain clicked. This was the goddess.

Agreeing to the strong armed question, Minato walked with the pair. Taking the main staircase that led them to the building's exterior, the trio walked to the rooftop. The three stood at the railing overlooking the rest of the neighborhood, the two dark haired youths watching Yumi Iguchi as she held her coffee and a lit cigarette in her left hand, and her donut in the other. Her routine was almost animatronic, as she would take two sips of coffee, follow this up with a puff of her cigarette, a bite of the dounut, and then repeat the process. Ema on her left stood by her side, facing the street and watching passerby, wondering how many of them saw any anime she was working on. Minato leaned on the railings, facing the opposite of the two women, his arms folded, focusing in trying to calm himself. The two twenty-something-year-olds both were expecting comforting words to come out of one of the more experienced animators of Musani, as Iguchi's words are always prophetic.

And they waited.

And continued waiting.

And proceeded to continue waiting.

And didn't stop waiting.

In fact, Ema and Minato exchanged looks every few minutes. One of them asking, "will she ever say anything?" and the other saying "give her some time."

After another fifteen excruciation minutes, Iguchi broke her silence.

"So, I suppose you two are wondering why I brought you out here."

Both of them nodded.

"Just to relax. You can't draw anything when you're confused." She looked at Ema. "Or when you're upset." She looked at Minato. "A clear mind is a creative mind."

* * *

Kinoshita Sheiichi folded his arms, and tapped his feet. His face was red with frustration, and his eyes were threatening to pop out of his head and cause craters in the ceiling.

"Director, what do you even want the first episode to look like?"

 _Jun Watanabe – Line Producer_

Director Seiichi kept his head focused on the ceiling.

"Do you want to pick up where the first season left off? Or do you want to start with an entirely new arc?"

 _Midori Imai – Setting Design & Research_

Her question went unanaswered.

"How about we start them at the Musashino Dome?" Watanabe asked. "They came to do one more show, and then something happens?"

The rest of the team, consisting of writers and the production desk, simply sat standing staring at their director. In complete honesty, he wasn't even sure why they were here. He had no idea where he wanted to go with the second season. He hadn't even the slightest indication he would be in this spot, after all. _Exodus!_ was good, but he didn't put any thought into the next season because he knew he wouldn't get one. Even then, coming up with the final episode was a struggle, how was he supposed to come up with a new season while managing the demanding _Two Piece?_

Kinoshita sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry, I just don't have anything right now."

He stood up, and before Production Desk, could stop him, he moved into the hallway, sighing the entire way there.

It was in the hall that he bumped into a black and blond haired production assistant.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that, Tsubaki."

The young girl looked up as she gathered herself. "oh no, director. I apologize. I wasn't watching where I was going."

She moved to the director's side, and she continued her swift path away from him. Kinoshita could have sworn he heard a pair of sobs as she walked away, and turned a corner to the Ladies bathroom before going out of sight.

 **Next Time on "Love is Like… A Good Anime, Right?"**

 **Episode Four;** **"My Wife Speaks Otaku and I Don't."**

* * *

Hope you all enjoyed! Let me give another special shoutout to fellow creator CartoonFanatic01. The guy keeps me on my toes.

As for some more general information of this story, I wrote this differently than I have ever written a story. I wrote the final chapter first, giving me the entire idea of what I want to accomplish. Then I follow this up with writing the first chapter, and taking it from there. So beginning to end, I have the entire thing planned out, unlike my previous projects, where I take it one to two chapters at a time until I can find the logical place to end the story. So, no matter what, you'll get an end to this story.

Sidenote, pagebreaks are becoming an issue between my writing them on Word and OpenOffice, and then placing them here. All of the normal formatting I've been doing hasn't gotten the desired results. Sorry if it becomes a distraction. I'm working on it.

Maybe it's something in the doc manager I'm not figuring out. Who knows.

Until next time!


	4. My Wife Speaks Otaku, and I Don't!

Episode Four

"My Wife Speaks Otaku and I Don't"

 _Tsubaki Andou's crisis gets worse when she discovers it interferes with the episode of another Production Assistant. Meanwhile, Ema Yasuhara gets a humble request from a fellow employee.  
_

For one to say Ema Yasuhara had become one of the better Key Animators that Musashino Productions had ever seen would actually be an understatement. The dark haired girl from a quiet town in Japan moving to Tokyo made quite the impression, and was a pleasure to work with. In fact, Kinoshita Seiichi has referred to her as "the best kept secret," on an occasion or two. To his knowledge at least, not any rival studios have been trying to recruit her away from Musani. As if she would say yes. Musani was her home. While her hours are long, her pay is relatively low, and her workload (and stress) seemingly _invented_ ways to increase, she wasn't at all unhappy with her place of employment.

After all, it beats working. Right?

"Excuse me, Ema?" she heard, snapping her from her trance of her Key Frame.

Turning her head to her right side, she saw another of her fellow creatives hailing for her attention.

 _Minato Shimura – Inbetweening_

"Hello, Shimura." Ema greeted. "Is there anything you need?"

Minato was almost taken aback at her kindness. So everyone else in the studio was right after all. She was the most approachable person in the building at any given time.

"Hi, Yasuhara." He asked, almost seeming nervous. "I have a question about this cut you drew. If you have a moment or so."

 _Not another retake._

"I think I do, what's up?" Nervousness showing in her voice.

"Oh I don't think it's that big of a thing. Just a quick thing."

He walked over to her desk and set her old cut over the current cut she was working on.

"This cut of Ruffy." Minato began.

After hearing countless retakes being asked for this week alone, Ema expected to hear more criticism. What hit her ears next almost floored her.

"How did you do it?" he asked.

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

Minato would have smiled if he was friends with her and understood the tone in which it was asked. However, due to the number of limited number of interactions he had with the Key Animator, he mistook her tone for being serious.

"Well, this cut here. The boar doesn't look like a real boar, but that feels like it was kinda the point, you know? Like the overall comedy wasn't lost. Does that make sense?"

 _So… he walked over here just to tell me that he liked… the boar?_

Minato adjusted his glasses. "And here. How he looks like a circle, but it isn't so obvious. Like, you start at his fist, and his entire body wind up to it, y'know? You see his back lead to his fist, which travels back down to his knee and then goes back up his back. The frame is…incredible."

Even though it was another creative telling her that he frames were good, it felt uplifting for someone to tell her _why_ her frames were good. After all, you can only listen to so many "this is great!" complements before they start to annoy you because nobody is telling you _why_ it looks great.

"Why thank you." Ema said, still unsure as to where this conversation was going.

"Can you let me know how you did this?" he asked. "I mean… I'm kind of a Key Animator, and if you could show me how to do these, I'd appreciate it!"

"Well… I mean. Maybe later today." She stammered. "I guess…. We could. If you want…"

Minato smiled. "Thank you very much, Yasuhara!"

Her face flushed a shade of flattery, to which she returned the happiness. "It's no problem. Does over lunch work for you?"

"I'm going to leave before I get a 'talking to' from Hiraoka. I'll see you later!" he scurried off.

Ema turned around in her seat before the next voice hit her ears.

"Your work is getting more noticed every day."

 _Shigeru, Sugie – Key Animator_

"Excuse me?"

Sugie didn't look up from his cut, which consisted of him drawing a herd of cattle. This would only be on screen for a few seconds, primarily used to tell the viewer that Ape J. Ruffy is arrived on a farming island. He grinned, and placed his pencil down, only to pick up a new one.

"A lot of people are beginning to notice your work. As I'm sure you know, even though a lot of viewers won't notice, creators can tell if you're not taking quality seriously.

Ema's eyes widened.

"You're not going to be Musani's best kept secret for long."

* * *

"I know my sister is weird."

 _No, needs more energy…_

"I know! My sister is weird!"

 _No, just a bit too much. She's her sister after all. More accepting, I guess?_

"Oh, my sister is weird. I know."

 _Almost…_

"Oh, I know. My sister is weird."

 _Got it!_

Taking the transit to Studio Heartbeat in the center of Tokyo, Shizuka Sakaki's heart could not have raced any faster. Indeed, she was heading to yet another audition, but it had truly been a while she could have one she was truly excited about. This one just _felt_ different to her in a way that was tough to explain. See, Studio Akihiko was working on a new anime, _My Wife Speaks Otaku, and I Don't._ Each episode was 3-5 minutes in length, where the husband worked an office job, whereas his wife worked at a Manga shop, and spent most of her free time running a barely profitable anime blog.

Shizuka was hoping to play the sister of the main character, the Otaku Wife. With the focus of the anime being on the surprisingly functional relationship between the husband and wife, in conjunction with the episodes being less than five minutes, this would hardly leave the hungry Shizuka any time to impress. However, the sister is an integral part of the anime, so while Sakaki would have plenty of lines in one episode and very few in another, she would have at least _something_ in each episode. This consistency is what her other roles have lacked.

That made it an audition she couldn't pass up, and one she was hellbent on.

She rehearsed her lines over and over, making sure each word was as packed with intensity, emotion and her own personal style.

… well, whatever the hell her personal style was.

When she exited the train, her nerves refused to stop spinning her around.

 _What if I don't get this role?_

She began to take her path east through the shopping district she was dropped off at.

 _What if I mess up?_

She turned north at the following intersection.

 _What if they don't like me? What if I'm just not a good voice actress?_

She checked her phone, eyeing the correct address to the Studio.

 _What if I end up working at Matsutei forever?_

Lost in her own thoughts of potential despair and self-denial Shizuka arrived. Attempting to calm herself with a deep breath, she placed her phone in her purse. Mustering all the faux confidence she could, she took a step inside.

* * *

Tsubaki Andou slowly began to sweat, panic and fear encompassing her soul as the moments went by. This morning, she made fifteen calls. Fifteen! Not one Key Animator considered helping her. Takanashi proved to be no help, as today he said "Oh I'll be able to help as soon as I get back with the Key Frames for my episode!" As to be expected, he didn't return. He probably got distracted by the new Karrage truck that opened up down the street.

Her face buried itself in her hands and she suppressed a sob. The episode was supposed to be out of the Key Animation stage in two days, and yet her cut wasn't even finished yet.

As her pity party continued, her eyes trained on the unfulfilled cut bag, across from her, the Production Desk took her own seat.

 _Aoi Miyamori – Production Desk_

With a plop, a sigh, and a grin, Aoi Miyamori took her seat. The blonde haired Desk opened her computer, and in three clicks, colored her schedule accordingly, and further smiled. It grew wider as she saw that her episode was perfectly on schedule, getting her frames from Segawa, and now having them delivered to the in-betweens this afternoon.

However, all was not particularly well with her. Upon her opening the building, she was met with a rare occurrence.

Silence.

In Musashino Productions, the more silent the studio is, the more stressed the studio is. When it is silent, panic is overcoming. The longer it remains silent, the more and more it manifests itself until the anime takes a backseat, and the personal problem of the creators are primary concern. Then it all blows up, and nothing gets accomplished. Nothing.

When panic is present however, veteran creators can help the younger and more stressed creatives. When panic is present, everyone is aware that, A) there is an issue, B) those who desire to stop up and impress usually have an opportunity to do so, and C) Everyone knows there is a situation to handle. You can only handle an issue if you know one exists.

When it is silent, none of this happens.

When silent, productivity is low. People swamp themselves into their work. People fight off nervous breakdowns with too much on their plate. People are frustrated with all of the retakes they do, even with no particular reason…

 _[At her desk on a separate floor, Ema Yasuhara sneezed hard enough to cause a nosebleed. This prompted Sugie to shift his chair away from her, hoping that in his old age Ema's illness wouldn't spread to him. The girl got sick way too often.]_

… or they're upset. Their creativity or career is at a standstill. They're letting the frustrations with their lack of progress seep into their work…

 _[Kinoshita Seiichi stirred creamer into his cup of coffee in the breakroom, at the same time Minato Shimura sat down absentmindedly playing with his phone while his Convenience store Bento Box heating in the microwave. At the twenty-two second mark, both men sneezed. Shimura's phone was covered in saliva and mucus, and Seiichi spilled coffee over his shirt. Both men had animated tears in their eyes as a result. When will it end?]_

…or they have a deeply rooted problem that's keeping them on the verge of a mental breakdown in fear of letting the studio down with the crushing weight of disappointment on their backs, similar to the weight and intensity of 4,000 Suns.

 _[Tsubaki sneezed over her desk, covering her computers screen before she could cover her mouth.]_

"Are you alright, Andou?" Aoi asked.

"I'm… fine."

In a voice that sounded unconvincing, Aoi looked at her colleague, only to see reddened eyes and wet cheeks.

And Aoi didn't even have to wait a single moment for Tsubaki to tell her why.

"THE KEY ANIMATOR WE HIRED DIDN'T FINISH MY CUT! THEY GAVE ME MY CUT BACK!"

Aoi cupped her hands over her mouth. "That's supposed to be out of Key Animation shortly!"

As if the universe was saying that Tsubaki Andou hadn't been through enough now, and needed to become "initiated" into her role as a Production Assistant, the last person she needed to walk into the production room walked in.

Hiraoka Daisuke.

"What's all the commotion?" He asked, holding a single cut bag. "I could hear Andou when I was walking up the stairs."

Trying her mightiest to not appear weak as "that crying girl in the office," Andou dried her tears.

"One of my… Key Animators refused to do one of my cuts."

His eyes widened, and Tsubaki's heart stopped, as she remembered who else needed that particular scene done.

* * *

Ema took a bite of her omelet rice, as Minato studied her frame.

"So something like… this?" Minato asked.

He sketched his own frame again, and handed the drawing back to Yasuhara.

She covered her mouth. "This is really good, but…"

"But it's still not as good as yours." He said.

"Well…" Yasuhara said. "I don't think that the Director even wanted my frame to look as I ended up doing it."

Minato erased parts of his frame. "How so?"

Ema looked at Minato's frame. "See, the more you draw, the more you'll know what to expect from the Director you're drawing for."

The inexperienced Inbetweener failed to understand.

"You learn to expand on small parts on a frame, one thing at a time. All to fit the broader scope of the anime so…"

"You need to start fitting the frames of anime for the directors vision and the anime itself?"

"Almost!" Ema said. "You wouldn't think of drawing Two Piece the same way you would draw a frame for _Exodus!._ "

"So more practice drawing different frames for different types of anime will work?"

The Key Animator took a bite of her meal and nodded. "Yes. I was more comfortable drawing for _Aerial Girls_ because it was just… more real, than drawing for _Exodus!_. It was hard for me, because I didn't draw that type of fantasy before."

"Hmmm… Keep the anime in mind." Minato pondered, and then rose to his feet. "Thank you, Yasuhara. I think I get it now."

She sipped her Red Bean soup. "Are you sure?" she asked.

Minato smiled. "Yes I do, actually. And I don't want to take up much more of your lunch break than I already have."

Ema returned the smile. Only difference was hers being far more radiant. "Anytime."

* * *

Hiraoka sat at his desk, fuming. Of all scenes that needed to be done. Of ALL THE SCENES THAT NEEDED TO BE DONE, it had to be the ONE scene that was required to be in his episode eight as a recurring characters dream.

Unbelievable.

As much as he wanted to sulk that he didn't have his cut done, he needed it done. And NOTHING makes him more upset than when his anime isn't done. He stood up, and looked at Tsubaki frantically scramble through all of her contact cards. He shook his head in response. Pitiful. But she's still green, so not entirely unexpected.

"Andou." He said.

She looked up at him towering over her from across the cubicles. "That cut, I'm guessing you haven't found a Key Animator yet."

She was surprised, not because she expected help, but because Hiraoka doesn't even speak to her unless he absolutely must. Statements and questions like, "Are you done with the vehicle?" or "I need to borrow the stapler." Or "Excuse me," in which he really said it politely when he really was thinking "Tsubaki, get the hell out of my way."

"No, I have not." She said

"May I take a look at the cut bag?"

Quickly, she handed it over. Not out of haste, but fear. _Why?_ "Here you go," she mumbled.

Opening it before he even had a firm grasp of the bag, he looked at each and every one of the scenes in the storyboard.

"I can make a call, someone I know has been in need of this type of work."

Tsubaki's eyes widened. "Really!?"

The moment that word escaped her lips, she was immediately sorrowful for her actions. Hiraoka was BOUND to give her a harsh comment after she set him right up for it.

And the next instant took her aback.

"Yes," he said, appearing annoyed. "You aren't the only one on staff affected by your workload. Next time you need help, _before_ you have a breakdown, just ask me."

The snowy haired youth sat down, and immediately picked up his phone to dial out.

 _Did… he just give advice sounding only moderately condescending?_

* * *

Snapping out of his semi-conscious state with an alarm set for 11:15pm, Minato Shimura sprang up from his cut and shut it off. He rose his arms high above his head, and stretched with a large yawn. He had almost forgotten how long he had been working, and had almost forgotten that he also reminded himself to remember to eat later. Meeting with Ema Yasuhara had further lit his inner fire. He silenced the alarm, turned off his study lamp, and reached for his umbrella.

With another wide yawn, this time not covering his mouth, he stood up.

No need to be polite about his yawn of course, he was the only one in his set of desks. The last set of Key Animators clocked out and went home about an hour ago. Hiraoka needed his Shimura's cut to be done, so of course, Minato obliged. In part because he was ordered, and in part because he really wanted to show up late tomorrow and he would get to sleep in. His next cut wouldn't be arriving until the late evening anyways.

For now though, his stomach protested him in his efforts to raise his seat rate. Sighing, he rose to his feet, and with his umbrella as his cane, he strolled off for the nearest convenience store. Hopefully it wasn't closed already due to the weather, as they were the first week he got here. A lesson he learned the hard way. More importantly, hopefully they weren't out of the fish.

He checked his phone. A pair of emails from Inora, staring they had not found their Key Animator, another from Matsui saying that he was going out for drinks with his fiancé, and that he was invited to attend, and finally one from Musashino Productions' very own Yuka Okitsu, telling all of the employees to make sure they plan their work related commutes around the down pouring rain appropriately.

When he placed his phone into his pocket, a surprising thing came to his attention.

Standing near the door, a nervous (and woefully underdressed) Ema Yasuhara stood, staring at her own cell phone. Her shoes looked… kind of water proof, but the mini skirt she was wearing surely showed that someone forgot to check the weather report this morning.

"Um… are you OK Yasuhara?"

She was surprised to see someone here so late. However her bad mood was more with the weather and herself for not looking into it. "No. I called a cab, but this street is flooded. I have to walk a few blocks up the road."

Minato leaned in. "That sucks. Are they there and you're mustering up courage to do it, or what?"

She shook her head. "No. They'll call when they're there."

Minato sighed, knowing full well he'd regret this next decision. "Well… here?"

"Excuse me?"

She looked to see Minato offering his umbrella to her.

"It's not much but, it's something. I have a hoodie on, and besides. I'm only going to go a block away to get a Bento Box, so I'll be alright."

 _He lied._

"I couldn't." She replied.

"No please." Shimura insisted. "I'm sleeping here anyways. It'll let up sometime tomorrow morning, and that's when I'll go home."

"Are you sure?"

"Ema, even IF you don't want to take it, just think of it as me repaying you for the favor of today.

Only because she knew that these two would keep arguing, and ultimately she would cave because she is too nice, Ema reluctantly took the umbrella.

"Thank you. Thank you very much, Shimura."

Putting his hood up before bracing the elements, Minato left with a smile. "Oh, don't mention it."

The moment he stepped into the howling winds, and the downpour, he regretted his decision.

 _ **Next time on, Love Is Like A Good Anime, Right?**_

 _ **Episode Five, "How Do You Like Your Eggs?"**_

* * *

 **A/N:** One month and two weeks later, haha. Thank you for reading. For the past month I've needed a "Mental Health Day," But since life hasn't haven't given me any indications of one for the foreseeable future, I've decided to push through anyway. Chapter 5 might take a while to get out as a result , but it's not a particularly lengthy read (at least I'm not planning for it to be.) so it shouldnt take too long.

Another note, I was trying to experiment with the Shirobako way of splitting scenes up to be recurring 3-5 times a chapter. This chapter was intended to do exactly that, but then it just became too choppy, and hard to follow and didn't flow well. Apparently it works differently when you're watching something as opposed to reading it. Ah well.

For now, special thanks to one of my best friends through high school, fanfiction user tastebuds. She hasn't been on for years, but you can find the link to her Archive Of Our Own, there on her profile. She's on my favorite lists if you care. She helped me with a few scenes, so thanks to her.

Also, I've misspelled Tsubaki Andou in the last chapter as Tsubaki Ando. Apologies.

See you in Chapter Five.


	5. How Do You Like Your Eggs?

Episode Five

"How Do You Like Your Eggs?"

 _Through Minato Shimura and Inora Kozuki, Shizuka Sakaki meets Miharu Yamashida, and turns out to be a marriage made in heaven. Meanwhile, Tsubaki Andou and Hiraoka Daisuke turn an unexpected corner._

"Minato?"

 _Ema Yasuhara – Key Animator, Supervisor Assistant_

Minato Shimura looked up from his phone, playing Pokemon while he laid back in his chair. He looked a little too comfortable for someone in a studio, leading Ema to believe he was waiting for work.

"Ah, Yasuhara." He said, pausing his battle. "What brings you to my… uh...humble desk?"

Behind Minato, Matsui Oda chuckled overtop of his cut.

"I came to bring you back your umbrella." She said, revealing it to the other dark haired animator.

"Ah, thank you." Minato said, obtaining the item.

"You sure seem more relaxed than you were last night." Ema said, slightly confused. "Did you sleep here?"

Minato nodded. "Yeah, uh… around six am or so. I actually just got here about a hour ago. I'm supposed to be getting some more work in a bit. So I'm waiting until then."

Ema looked at his desk. "Then… what are these?"

Minato and Matsui both looked up, and Minato was unsuccessful in trying to hide them.

"Uh? Noooothing!"

He tried to gather the papers scattered on his desk, only to comically and accidentally force them over his desk and over to the floor.

"Smooth move, Minato." Matsui sighed.

As is her helpful nature, Ema assisted in picking the papers off the floor, and was met with another surprising sight.

"Character designs?"

Minato sighed. Now Ema would know how awful his drawings were. "Yeah," as he gathered the rest of the papers. "The main character of the anime we're hoping to get off the ground."

Ema stared at A black haired, green eyed girl. Her hair was tied in a light blue bow. Her head is where Minato appears to have the most trouble. She couldn't see what particular style of hair the girl was going with.

"You're working on an anime?"

Minato laughed. "If you wanna call it working at this point. We can't find a female voice actor, so we're kinda paused."

Matsui looked up from his cut. "You mean Inora can't find one she likes. I've found plenty."

"Yeah, what he said." Minato nodded.

Ema knew that her own seat was calling her to get back to work, but she felt she was on to something in this conversation.

"Why haven't you found anyone?" she asked.

Matsui and Minato both sighed heavily, and in unison replied. "I need someone to sound young and confident and sexy!" apparently mocking their director.

Ema's eyes wandered to the floor, then to the ceiling. "I think I know someone that can help. Possibly."

Both men looked to her with waterfall tears in their eyes. "PLEASE."

Minato pouted, his bottom lip protruding so much so that Ema could lean forward about one degree and touch it. "Her email. Please."

Ema giggled. "Can I get that to you before you leave? I really have to work on my cut, and I have to ask if she'd even be up for it."

Both boys had not let themselves breathe. "PLEASE."

With a smile and a slight snicker, Yasuhara was off to her own desk.

Satisfied, Matsui returned to his cut, and Minato returned to his game.

...For about 30 seconds.

"Hey Minato," Matsui asked. "Were you ever going to tell me you gave her my umbrella?"

Minato didn't even look from his screen with a sly grin. "Oh you know… I keep forgetting things."

"…I hate you."

* * *

In the first of the studio's two cars, Hiraoka Daisuke drove through the streets of the city with an odd calmness, considering the duo of he and Tsubaki Andou were under so much stress to meet the swiftly approaching deadline that loomed a few short days away. Don't remind them though. In an industry where time is everything, their deadline felt seconds away.

Tsubaki was getting shifty in her seat, full of impatience. She wasn't exactly ungrateful for the help, but Daisuke had told her no information on the status of who would be taking care of this cut. _Where are we going!?_

Suddenly, Daisuke turned down what seemed like a randomized alley. In one fluid motion that you would expect from a veteran production Assistant; Daisuke parked the car, removed the keys from the ignition, grabbed the brown cut bag, and exited the vehicle.

He bent down to see Tsubaki Andou. "Are you coming in? Or going to stay here? Makes me no difference."

"Uh, yes! Coming."

She exited the car as well, and not even recognizing what side of town she was in, she tightened her grip on her purse. Not for the sake of keeping it from getting snatched, but for the knife tucked inside it.

"It's a dump, I know. But the inside looks way better." The snowy haired youth confirmed.

He walked forward. Turning the knob of the large rusty white door connected to the building he face, he took a step in. With all of the apprehensiveness in the world, the dark haired youth Andou did the same.

"A studio?" she asked.

Inside the building was a small anime studio, far smaller than even Musashino Productions. The facility looked to be recently purchased, as it had lacked… personality. The walls were just white, there was no true organization to the floorplan and there was a lot of empty space to be used. Ah well, it was something to grow into.

"Hiraoka Daisuke!" the pair heard.

 _Hisamitsu Isokawa – President_

Hiraoka turned his head. "Good timing, Isokawa. I was looking for you."

Running into view, a tall (and very handsome) man appeared before the Musani Production Assistants.

"What brings you here?" he asked. "Jumping ship again and need a new job?" he smugly asked.

"No." Hiraoka stated with a particularly aggressive tone. "I've actually come to bring work if your animators are up for it."

Hiraoka handed Isokawa the cut bag. "Are we up for work? You acted as if I'd have changed my mind since we talked yesterday, haha."

He opened the bag, and looked at the sheet of Key Frames the director wanted done, and the explanations attached to them. The cuts were heavy. Very. But the descriptions the director provided were thankfully specific and realistically attainable. The remainder of the bag consisted of the lines the characters were saying, and the character designs of the three characters in appearing in the cut.

"Well?" Daisuke asked, the silence irking him. That's the first time he could ever remember such a thing happening to him.

"How much time do we have?" he asked.

Daisuke had to think. _Dammit, that was the first thing I should have found out. When does the Key Animation stage end? I forgot!_

His train of thought was cut off by Tsubaki's response. "Three days. So this Wednesday."

"Three days!? Jeez." He shook his head. "This will take at least five or six."

Daisuke was quick to make a counter offer. "Well, I'll tell them to hold off the next stage. So make it four days. Worst case I can pick it up early Friday."

The studio A.C Tsuchinoko wasn't particularly in any position to be turning down work, due to it's recent foundation, or it's lack of clientele.

"Glad to see you call this in." Isokawa said. "We'll shoot for three and a half. But you should high ball it for Friday morning. We'll call you Thursday at lunch and let you know if we're done. But no later than early Friday morning. Guaranteed!"

Tsubaki Andou smiled and had to fight the urge to hug the man. "Thank you for all your hard work!" she bowed.

Hiraoka Daisuke nodded. "Thank you. I'll call you Thursday. I know how forgetful you tend to be."

Hisamitsu laughed. "I'm not going to forget that you are going to work for this studio one day, you journey man, you."

Daisuke left the studio with a slam of the door.

* * *

Uncharacteristically caught up and on schedule with all of his work, Director Kinoshita Seiichi would ordinarily feel proud of himself. However currently, this was not the case. The only reason he was so focused on all of his current work was so that he didn't have time to focus on season two of _Exodus_!.

How could he? He was closed up and done. He could have sworn in front of a judge that he wasn't getting a second season. Exodus was made with the emotions of not only his road to redemption, but to carry Musashino Productions out of the dark hole of irrelevance. He was perfectly satisfied with how the first season ended, and by episode ten of the twelve episode series, he never gave any thought to even continuing. He shook his head, and folded his arms while leaning back in his desk chair.

The most frustrating part of this process was this; it wasn't as if he was coming up with bad ideas and scraping them. To come up with ideas and delete them is key the artistic process. His issue was that he wasn't coming up with _anything_ at all.

"Ah, Director. I thought I'd find you here."

 _Masato Marukawa – President_

Seiichi slumped in his chair. "Ah… well." _How the hell was he supposed to respond to that!? You found the director in his place of work at his own desk. Great job._ "You found me." He followed this with a nervous laugh.

"You don't have any meetings today. Come with me for a while." Marukawa smiled.

First unwritten rule of working at Musani; you don't tell the President "no." The pair left immediately, and were met with the dark grey skies over the entirety of Japan.

"Ah, we must hurry." Marukawa said. "I can't believe it isn't done raining."

Entering the studio vehicle, the pair drove to the nearest grocery store. Here, Marukawa purchased bags of fresh chicken and beef, which he intended to fry and use in curry, respectively. Soon after, they moved to another store, where Marukawa bought herbs and spices. After this, they drove to the nearest fuel station to put gas in the car. It wasn't until the pair had been driving back to the studio that Seiichi wondered why exactly he was brought away from the studio.

"Uh, President Marukawa?"

"You're wondering why I brought you out of the studio, I'm guessing."

"Well, y-yeah." He replied.

Masato smiled. "Well, there isn't any particular reason. You just weren't looking as if you were getting anything done. Sometimes, a change of scenery is good. It wouldn't have done you any good to lock you in the cage this time around."

Suddenly, Kinoshita Seiichi might have been onto something.

* * *

 **/Ring Ring!**

 **/Ring Ring!**

Awaking from her usual afternoon nap before work, Shizuka Sakaki's palm smacked the surface of the bedside table repeatedly in search of her phone.

 **/Ring Ring!**

"I know, I know. I'm coming." She mumbled.

Finding her phone, unplugging it from it's charger, she looked at the name and picture on her Caller ID.

 _Ema? What could she want? She should be working._

Shizuka yawned as the device continued to make noise in her hand.

"Hello?" she finally answered.

"Zuka-chan!" Ema exclaimed. "I was hoping you weren't at work. Is this a bad time?"

"No, I work closing tonight, so I have another few hours before I go in."

"Oh, I have some something for you."

"What is it?" Shizuka added another yawn.

...

...

...

...

"What!? Are you serious!?"

"Their director even emailed me a few minutes ago!"

"Of course I'll meet with them! Give them my email!"

* * *

 _~About a week-and-a-half later…_

"Hello, Shizuka Sakaki. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've been studying your scene in Aerial Girls ever since Minato told me about you. I agree that you're perfect for the female lead role."

 _Inora Kozuki - Director_

Face to face with someone who could give her an opportunity, Shizuka could not have been more pleased. The directors beautiful blue eyes, long blonde hair, and her youthful and friendly appearance was a different sight than Shizuka and Ema both expected. And in total, neither of the girls expected the director to be the same age as they, even though voice was more, adult. Direct. More… assertive, but somehow unaggressive. The four sat in a booth in a diner. Nearest the window sat Shizuka Sakaki and the Director, Inora Kozuki. On the outside of the booth sat Ema Yasuhara and Minato Shimura.

Across the table, Ema Yasuhara nudged her left elbow on a disbelieving Shizuka Sakaki. Shizuka gipped her coffee to maintain the realism of the situation, this offer sounding as if it were too good to be true. She had never been sought out for a role. Least of all actually get one.

"Nice to meet you as well, Director Kozuki. I'm sorry, I haven't had time to… do much research on you or this anime." Shizuka stammered.

Inora Kozuki leaned in. "Oh it's fine. I didn't expect you to. Well, let's start with the basics. This anime is one that Minato and some of our friends came up with when we were high school. As we all approached graduation and we wanted to go into anime it seemed less and less like just a dream. It actually became a goal to work towards."

Ema and Shizuka in unison replied, "You two went to high school together?"

Minato smiled at them across the table. "Yup, Takizawa Star High School!"

Inora Kozuki returned the smile. "Yup. There, we came up with a raunchy food based comedy. Miharu's Masterpeice! We've always dreamed of it, and now we have the skills and ability to do it."

Minato interjected. "Mostly it's money..."

Ema and Shizuka looked at each other, remembering their own dreams. Each of them felt their inner fire resume and multiply for _Seven Lucky Battle Gods_.

"A raunchy food comedy?" Shizuka asked.

"Indeed. My parents are both chefs, and I've wanted to do an anime about cooking. There aren't a lot of those around." Director Kozuki explained. "Minato and Matsui both said they wanted to do a comedy anime. So since I could write, and they each could draw, it just took off from there. Since we graduated, I've directed and co-directed seven series and one movie and a few OVA's, two of which I wrote myself. I also helped out as a Line Producer on a handful of web anime's too. So I've been tweaking it as I got more experience."

"Will this one also be a web anime?" Shizuka asked.

"Yes."

Her spirits were dampened slightly. She wanted to get into voice acting, yes. But she felt that she wouldn't be taken as seriously as she wanted to be for taking part in some random Web Anime. Immediately picking up on this feeling, Inora continued.

"There is a lot of hype surrounding this anime. The only thing holding production back was that we couldn't find a lead we liked. Well, until today."

Shizuka's eyes floated to her drink, still unsure.

"Go on, Shizuka." Ema smiled, nudging her physically and emotionally forward.

But it wasn't that easy. The quality might be really low because they have such a small budget. Her name would be attached to the main character, so if it failed she might never get a job outside of making crowd noise. Or working at Pubs forever. She could see it now. Herself and twenty cats, all alone in her apartment as she stares at the television where she vengefully watches successful and established voice actors complain about how hard they have it for juggling so many roles.

But… she would get experience, and get to experiment with her style a bit. And if she said yes, she could forge friendships with them and their studio, so when it came time for the arrival of _Seven Lucky Battle Gods_ …. Maybe she could make that call and _just maybe_ get an answer.

Inora Kozuki looked to her right at Minato Shimura. "Hey, Minato. Show her Miharu."

And his face proceeded to light up. "Alright,"

Obliging, and then digging in his messenger bag, he proceeded to retrieve to white sheets of drawing paper. With a bigger smile, he placed the two papers in front of Shizuka, with Ema Yasuhara leaning in closer to see.

The two were met with Miharu Yamashida. A dark haired sixteen year old bombshell. The leftmost picture showed her stringy dark hair falling over her shoulders in her normal clothes. Her hair was a shade of dark red, almost black at first glance. She wore a simple pair of black leggings and a blue blouse. Her beautiful green eyes leapt off the page. Her full figure begged to be in motion. Her face implied innocence. Her smile showed an overflow of confidence, almost bordering on arrogance.

The second picture was the true achievement. Miharu donned a white chef's garb, which she would be mostly be seen in. Her hair was pulled to the back to her head in a silky ponytail, save for two bangs hanging on the front of each of her ears, held in place by a light blue ribbon tied in a bow. Her white chef garb was immaculately drawn and balanced sex appeal and professionalism, showing how Minato paid attention to these key details. In the first image, Miharu looks normal and attractive, your standard female protagonist. In this second image however, her hair color ensures she stands out in her chef's garb, making her easily distinguishable in a crowd of other students wearing the same outfit. The eyes are a shade of green that you do not want to look away from, so your attention goes immediately to her face. Not that there's anything wrong with that, because I's so pretty you can't help but stare. However if your eyes shifted down, you'd notice her large breasts. Large, but not unnecessarily so, like shows of the same genre. They balanced well between "Look at me!" and "Well… you can stare… if you want." Her lower body's curves flowed very immaculately on the way down to her feet. This sex appeal was thrown at the viewer so subtly, not only to make them want to see more of her, but physically rip the garb off Miharu's body.

Minato hadn't just been looking at Ema's frames to trace and collect a paycheck. He had been studying them. Ema was nothing short of impressed. They nothing like the initial designs she saw a week ago.

Director Kozuki's pitch had almost worked. Time to close the deal.

"Would you like to also read a scene from the first episode?" she asked.

Shizuka almost chocked on her words. "Y-Yes. Sure."

Inora grinned. She reached in her backpack and retrieved a copy of the script. Flipping to the fifth page.

"You should go ahead and read it, out loud, I mean. Get a good feel for it. Miss… Yasuhara, was it?" Ema looked up as the director addressed her. "You should read as Ayano, along with Miss Sakaki."

Ema hasn't read anything even with moderate seriousness since high school! And even then she felt she was _awfu_ l in _Seven Lucky Battle Gods_!

"…sure."

* * *

 _The hectic kitchen may as well have been a subway station during rush hour. Students were running around, shouting at each other students, shouting at the clock, shouting at their partners. Snatching and throwing utensils, spices (and may as well have added people to that list, for that matter.)_

 _However at station eight, Miharu Yamashida stood by her simmering pot. Looking calm and detatched, the young chef took almost a sadistic satisfaction in seeing the remainder the students try so hard, in vain, to cook their beef to complement the professors custom rice dish, of which they could not taste until after they submitted the meat._

 _Ayano stood by her side, cleaning her large glasses before she began her own prepwork. "Are you sure we can get this beef right?"_

 _Miharu scoffed. "For the last time Ayano, yes. We're going to pass this lab today, easily. Firsthand, I know you don't need the most exotic spices for a good meat dish. Trust me."_

" _I don't know…" Ayano muttered._

" _Focus on the rice. OK? Can you do that? Jeez."_

 _Ayano shuddered. "I can, I can. But the professor said that the lowest grade fails, and to stay…" she gulped. "They have to break your hand!"_

 _Miharu looked at her oddly. "You're kidding."_

" _No!"_

" _One hand?"_

" _Yes! One hand!"_

 _Miharu folded her arms. "So… do we get… a choice?"_

 _Ayano flailed her arms comically. "Why is that of any importance!?"_

" _Well, I know for sure we won't be last. But… I'm always conflicted about which hand to lose."_

" _What!?"_

 _Miharu looked at her right hand. "Because… this is the hand I do most of my cooking with." She looked at her left. "And this is the one I touch myself with."_

 _Ayano's jaw dropped._

 _Miharu looked at her beleaguered friend. "Close your mouth babe, flies might get in." She then rotated to face her pot, and after lifting the lid to smell the rapidly escaping meat vapors, she cracked a smile. "Almost perfect. Can you grab me the egg?"_

 _Ayano adjusted her glasses. "Sure. I'll get them."_

 _Miharu stopped her. "But first, tell me how you like your eggs?"_

" _Hm?"_

" _How do you like your eggs?"_

" _I don't think I know what you mean."_

 _Miharu approached Ayano's face in dangerously close kissing distance. "No. How do you like your eggs. Fried? Or fertilized?"_

 _Ayano rushed away, her face as red as a tomato. "Fried! Eeeewwww! Not fertilized!"_

 _Miharu smiled as she stirred the pot. "Interesting. But I saw that mini skirt you wore on the first day. That'll make anyone get them fertilized really quickly. You're just lucky I'm the different gender, haha."_

Shizuka had to wipe tears from her eyes, and Ema couldnt stop giggling. So, _this_ was the raunchy food comedy. With writing on par with what you would expect from an actual studio, maybe this wouldn't be such a bad endeavor for Shizuka.

"Well?" Inora asked, out of options for her pitch. Well, the next option was to beg, but she was too proud to do that. "Will you take the role?"

Looking at the hoping face of Minato Shimura, the determined face of Inora Kozuki, and finally the supportful face of her best friend Ema Yasuhara, Shizula Sakaki finally knew her answer.

"Yes. I'll do it!"

Inora Kozuki smiled as wide as Shizuka. "Thank you, Miss Sakaki, and welcome to Studio Hope!"

 **Next Time on, Love Is Like A Good Anime, Right?**

 **Episode Six, "Finally!"**

* * *

 **A/N:** And that closes the first Arc, the Introductory/World building arc. Now we can move with the thick of the plot and the humor and the romance!

…and I thought it took forever for the last one to finish and be uploaded. Sorry about that. Exams are now over, and I've been nailing myself to increase my seat rate and finish this one out. School and life just not allowing me to glue myself to my keys. Nothing to concern yourself with, haha. The most difficult part of this chapter was figuring out what I wanted to do with 6 and 7. They will be lengthy, and AMAZING. Just take my word for it, haha.

I thought that I would figure it out as my chapters ebb and flow naturally, and new ideas are thrown into Minato's love life and the plot itself. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see you in the next one!


	6. Finally!

Chapter Six

" _Finally!"_

 _Kinoshita Seiichi figures out where wants to go to for the second season of Musani's original anime, however it isn't long before another issue presents itself. Meanwhile, Shizuka adapts to the schedule conflicts of being a voice actress._

 **/Ring Ring!**

 **/Ring Ring!**

 **/Ring Ring!**

The flashing screen of the phone illuminated the dark bedroom that housed a snoozing Shizuka Sakaki. Extending a hand from her blanket, she smacked the bedside table twice before finding her cell phone, and groggily answering the caller, neglecting to look at the name on the caller before doing so.

 **/Ring Ring!**

"Hello?" she answered with a yawn.

"Miss, Sakaki. This is AkaOni Production."

The red haired voice actress sprang upwards at the cool female voice on the other end at the mention of her management company.

"Yes! I'm listening!"

"We just heard from Studio Koza. They were raving about your audition for Yamanaka in _My Wife Speaks Otaku and I Don't_. They offered you the role and can't wait to have you in the studio."

Shizuka almost leapt out of her bed and shot straight into the ceiling. Her heart was beating as if she just finished a ten kilometer run. Her body was shaking, and she was almost waiting to hear them backtrack their words, telling her that she was a victim of a really bad prank. She hoped it wasn't the latter.

"Thank you!" she managed to spit out.

"They're starting production now; they wish to know if next Wednesday works for you to deliver lines? They want to get the trailers and promotional videos taken care of as soon as possible."

If Shizuka had some other prior engagement, she didn't anymore. "Yes, yes it does!"

"Fantastic, I'll let them know." Her manager replied. "Stop by tomorrow and I can give you a hard copy of the script and all the other important information you'll need."

"I'll stop by today!" Shizuka exclaimed.

"Even better." She said with a chuckle. "We'll be expecting you, Miss Sakaki. Congratulations on the role."

"Good, I'll see you later! Thank you for all your hard work!"

Shizuka's smile overtook her face, and she fell back to her mattress as one word echoed across her mind.

 _Finally_.

* * *

"Finally."

 _Jun Watanabe – Line Producer_

"I know exactly where we'll start Exodus! Season two!"

 _Kinoshita Seiichi – Director_

"Where!?"

 _Aoi Miyamori – Production Desk_

"After careful thought, we'll start the season in an alleyway!"

The heads of the room hung. Most notably, the forehead of the lead writer. He almost even fell _through_ his computer.

"Director Seiichi? Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

 _Maitke Shimeji – Scenario Writer_

"Of course! Once the smoke clears and the girls settle down, they'll return to the Musashino Dome's east alleyway in search of the man that gave them the horses for their getaway!"

The entire room sighed, but somehow optimistically.

"Oh, why didn't I think of that?"

 _Midori Imai – Setting Design_

"It's a start." Aoi Miyamori replied. "I mean, that is something that came out of nowhere."

Seiichi continued. "We're going to have them return to the alley and try to meet the man who brought the horses. He won't be there at first obviously, and they'll try to pick up clues to go find him!"

Behind his computer, Shimeji chucked. "All right. That sounds like a fine beginning to the second season. Have you thought about where exactly we're starting episode one?"

Seiichi folded his arms. "No, I didn't get that far. There's a few other ideas I'm trying to throw in it, but I think I have the whole season sorta worked out."

Jun Watanabe's phone almost materialized in his hand and he began navigating through screens whilst sending emails at a rapid pace. "It's better than what we've come up with so far, and it'll work. Miyamori?"

"Yes?"

"This is what we hired all the extra personnel for. Shift them around appropriately between the productions of _Exodus!_ and the remaining _Two Piece_ episodes."

"Yes." Aoi said, scribbling in her notepad. "I'll begin shuffling this week!"

Watanabe didn't break eye contact from his phone. "Keep in mind we're planning to have the first episode air the first week of May. That in mind, make all of the plans the same as when you were Production Desk for _Aerial Girls_ , so start there and work backwards. But plan production to start next Monday. That date will be August 1st, so you'll have an easier time coordinating days."

Aoi Miyamori's pencil was moving so fast sparks almost emanated from the front of the page. "Got it, done and done. What about the Production Desk for _Exodus!_?"

Watanabe did not look up from his phone. "Erika Yano will overhead _Exodus!_. You'll stay on _Two Piece_ until the season is over, and we'll go from there."

* * *

 _~ Two days later_

 _Minato Shimura,_

 _We have now reshuffled the staff to accommodate for the production of Exodus! Season 2. We are moving you to the position of Key Animator for Two Piece, as Key Animator Ema Yasuhara has been moved to the production staff of Exodus! away from Two Piece. Please speak with Yasuhara and finish her Key Frames for Two Piece Episode Ten while she shifts projects. Please note that Episode Ten is expected to be done with the Key Animation stage next Friday._

 _Aoi Miyamori_

 _Production Desk_

Whilst brushing his teeth, Minato Shimura continued to read and re-read the paragraph on the screen of his phone. However the more he read, the more he didn't want to believe what was happening. But the more he read, the more excited he got. He was finally getting his shot at Musani, and while this was the very scenario he was hired for, he was excited to prove himself all the same.

* * *

 _Hello all,_

 _Thanks to Mina Okanaka and Matsui Oda finishing up the last of the Key Frames, and Minato getting his promotion at Musashino Productions (congratulations, by the way,) we are ready to start recording lines for the promotional videos and a pair of the finished scenes from Episode One. Everyone this email is sent to welcome to attend due to this being the first session, but outside of a voice actor and those I spoke to specifically about this session, you are not required to attend._

 _The hardest task was finding a studio and time under short notice that could accommodate all of our needs. Slightly south of Central Tokyo, there is a small studio called Studio Majesty, mostly used to record music. We will meet next_ _Wednesday, August 3_ _rd_ _, at 3pm._ _I apologize for those wanting to attend this historic first session, but this time was scheduled in coordination with the working schedules of the voice actors and the sound mixers._

 _Following this session, we will have our sessions at Studio Heartbeat._

 _The dream is becoming more and more a reality with each passing day, thank you all!_

 _Inora Kozuki_

 _Studio Hope: Founder, Director, Line Producer_

Shizuka's jaw dropped, and she almost dropped her phone onto the hard tiles of her bathroom.

"Dammit!" she screamed.

How could she have forgotten to tell Director Kozuki that she got her own role for _My Wife Speaks Otaku and I Don't_? She was supposed to record lines for promotional videos at the same time! Not only that, she had a press conference for that same anime later on in the same day. Oh no, this was not going to go over well.

"Breathe, Shizuka." She replied. "Ok, bigger actresses have been in these situations before. Act like you've been here before ok? Just reply and tell her that you can't make it and reschedule."

Shizuka nodded. "Right!"

She couldn't help but talk to herself. She had no idea when she picked this habit up.

She finished buttoning her work blouse before replying to the email.

 _Dear Director Kozuki,_

 _I apologize for my lack of communication, but earlier this week I was offered and accepted a role for the upcoming spring anime, My Wife Speaks Otaku and I Don't. Wednesday we will also be recording lines for promotional videos at 1pm, followed by a press conference and interviews at 5:30pm. Therefore I will not be able to give lines at this first session. Are there any other times we available to record?_

 _Apologies for the inconvenience._

 _-Shizuka Sakaki_

And then Shizuka realized, that she hit the "reply all" button. It took less than fifteen seconds for all hell to break loose. Emails from the entirety of the production committee started flying in.

" _What the hell are we going to do now!?"_

" _The ship is sinking!"_

" _We're too small to not have that video ready! We need to aggressively campaign now!"_

… and Shizuka immediately regretted this decision.

Director Kozuki replied immediately.

 _Hello all,_

 _I say relax. Now is not the time to hit the panic button. Sakaki and I will talk privately, the remainder of the studio, we will still be meeting up at the predetermined time._

However that barely quelled the craziness that she brought to the studio.

" _We should reschedule!"_

" _We don't have the time, what we should do is go without her!"_

" _And have promo videos without the main character! Baka!"_

Shizuka could not stop staring at her phone as the panic overtook the studio. Then, a slightly familiar name crossed her screen.

 _Hey guys,_

 _I have a relatively free weekend that next week, and a microphone at my house that I think Inora left over and never picked up. Sakaki and I could coordinate a time, and I can gather her lines and send them to Inora. I mean, I'll be the sound mixer at the studio anyways, so it's not as if it's a inconvenience anyway. Does this… work Inora?_

 _-Minato Shimura,_

 _Musashino Productions: Key Animator,_

 _Studio Hope: Key Animator, Sound Mixer_

"Way to save the day, Shimura!" Sakaki smiled.

Director Kozuki replied.

 _That looks to be the only option. I'm trusting you on this one. Please have them to me no later than 2pm next Sunday. We'll have videos mostly edited, and we'll have to be quick placing her lines in. We need to send it out to promote this anime as fast as possible. Shimura and Sakaki will talk privately, but let me know what happens each step of the way. Back to work everyone!_

 _p.s. Minato, I'll also pretend that you didn't hoard my microphone. We'll talk about it._

Shizuka took a deep breath and almost fainted at her giving this studio a panic attack.

* * *

 **/Ring Ring**

 **/Ring Ring**

 **/Ring Ring**

 **/Ring Ring**

"Oh come on Director."

/ **Ring Ring**

 **/Ring Ring**

"Hello, Kinoshita Seiichi."

"Ah, great thing you answered."

 _Jun Watanabe – Line Producer_

"Ah, Watanabe." Director Seiichi answered. "What's up?"

Watanabe's voice on the other side of the phone appeared grave. "I just got off of the phone with the creator of Two Piece. He isn't happy."

Seiichi's heart almost stopped. "What? Why?"

"The fight scenes lack flow. He thinks they aren't drawn and choreographed as well as they could be, and if it doesn't turn around, they're going to go to another studio."

 **Next Time on, Love Is Like A Good Anime, Right?**

 **Episode 7, "Low Hanging Fruit"**

* * *

 **A/N:** Well, took forever and a day for me to upload, haha. But there are so many scenes I wanted to throw into this chapter, and I figured "why rush it?" Especially with this being the first episode of the 2nd arc. So I had to cut a lot of scenes from this one into 7 and shift the focal point of this arc from 8, to being across 8 and 9. Mind you, that might change as soon as I start writing this next chapter haha.

But anyways, again I say thank you for reading! Hope to see you in the next one.


	7. Low Hanging Fruit

Chapter Seven

"Low Hanging Fruit"

 _Shizuka's voice acting prowess begins to take shape. Meanwhile, Aoi Miyamori and Musani's Key Animators try to get their heads above waters._

 _Friday, August 5_ _th_

 _~9:22am_

Aoi Miyamori drove through the streets of Tokyo, a smile on her face as the theme song of _Andes Chucky_ played through the radio of the studio car. For the most part, the production of Two Piece was beginning without a hiccup. All other miscellaneous issues were proven to be minor and therefore handled quickly, and were mostly due to confusion of the staff reassignments.

Making a left turn at her intersection and then turning right to enter a driveway, she exited the car in one fluid motion, and rushed up the stairs to her right. She knocked on the first door she saw.

"This is Aoi Miyamori from Musashino Productions!" she knocked three times.

And Aoi counted out seven seconds, and the door opened slowly.

Clockwork.

"Morning?"

 _Misato Segawa – Key Animator, Animation Supervisor_

"Miayamori?" she answered, giving the Production Desk a puzzled look. "This is uncharacterisitally early."

Aoi Miyamori handed over a large hand bag containing three brown cut bags, and did so with a large smile. "I know, the studio is running very efficiently now!"

Misato took the bags and returned Miyamori's smile with a yawn. "I just have to check these and approve them for the Inbetweening right? Nothing else?"

Aoi removed her daily planner from her purse and studied it intensely. "Yes. Your Key Frames for episode twelve aren't due for… another three weeks."

Misato nodded, but absentmindedly so, thinking about making coffee before sifting through all of these cuts she was expecting to be obnoxiously heavy. Thank you Director Seiichi!

"Alright, expect a call Monday morning. End of the day Monday at the latest." She replied.

"Thank you for all your hard work!"

* * *

 _~10:29am_

With Yumi Iguchi to his right, and another host of Key Animators to his left, Minato Shimura's eyes were trained on the martial arts experts in front of him. They demonstrated a few of the more commonly used stances, and showed how the flow of their combat works.

They were here of course, due to a complaint of their animation of their current show, Two Piece. According to Aoi Miyamori, the creator of the _Two Piece_ manga with the lack of appeal and flow in the fight scenes. This came as a shock to the studio, with the exception of Rinko Ogasawara and Matsui Oda.

Musashino Productions specialized in creating attractive characters, (which were mostly female) have a well thought out plot that develops steadily, bringing out the entire range of human emotions, and possess multi-tiered character development. _Exodus!_ and _Aerial Girls_ both check off each of these categories. To varying degrees of course, but for the most part played right into the studio's hands.

Two Piece's main character was a male, who had an unwavering desire to accomplish his main goal of finding the largest stash of pirate treasure to ever exist. The only emotion this show wanted you to feel, at least in the first two seasons, was to feel inspired when the main character showed off his powers or beat a huge villain he wasn't supposed to. The initial pull of this anime was cool-looking characters doing cool-looking things, in cool-looking fights.

As for everything else… it got there when it got there.

The online message boards felt that Musani was in over their heads with this anime, as was mostly outside of Musani's strength. So Jun Watanabe urged the animators to be sent to a Dojo in attempts to make their drawings come more to life.

Iguchi leaned into Minato's ear. "Do you think you've got it?" she asked.

Iguchi leaned into Minato's ear. "Do you think you've got it?" she asked.

Minato's eyes didn't break from the demonstration. "I think I got… something." He replied. "I think that it's not enough to draw someone hitting someone, you have to draw the person getting hit. The trick is in the receiver of the blow, I guess."

The Veteran Key Animator smiled. "I think I got the same thing." She returned to her sketch pad.

Minato returned the smile. "I feel like I'm missing something though."

Yumi mumbled. "Oh?"

"I'm finding it hard to conceptualize how the attacker just before they deliver a blow."

"Ah, I see." Iguchi replied. "That means you can draw and make the viewer feel the maximum impact. Think about this though…"

She leaned in closer to sketch something to show Minato. "You want the action to all flow in one direction, but you also want to focus on the point of impact and how everything moves from there."

She flipped to a new page and quickly made a sketch of two people fighting. "See this one is going to deliver a kick? Think about how the rest of his body is going to move in delivering it, and how the receiver would move. We can exaggerate a little, because after all, this is an anime."

Minato smiled as his eyes followed Iguchi's pencil. "Damn, now I kind of wish I had my Key Frames back from the last episode. I feel they could be so much better."

Iguchi chuckled. "You've never heard of being careful of what you wish for?"

"I mean, I have now."

* * *

 _~ 3:02 pm_

"I mean, she isn't usually like this…"

" _My sister is weird! We know!"_

"No no! That's not what I meant!"

" _You're the one who married her, you signed up for this!"_

"But I mean THAT is a new one!"

" _Oh here she comes!"_

...

...

...

 **And that's a wrap, great work guys.**

The red light at the head of the booth turned off, and with a deep breath Shizuka backed away from her microphone. A shorter man next to her did the same, but with a stretch and a yawn.

"Great work, Sakaki." He told, looking pleased. "I wish we could have worked together on the promotional videos. You're a pleasure to work with."

 _Yoroi Nakada – Voice Actor_

Shizuka smiled. "Oh it's nothing, but thank you. Thank you so much."

Shizuka smiled. "I try my hardest, it's nothing really."

The red haired voice actress was outwardly humble, but on the inside was completely different. She was quite tired of being told "you're almost there" and she was certainly irked with getting out of bed to get ready for a shift at the pub, and could only motivate herself by staring at the mirror and telling herself "I deserve it. I'll get there one day." Her time was coming, and she knew it. So her confidence and her desire to achieve spilled into her voice acting, masquerading as confidence that usually keeps itself for seasoned voice actors.

The staff on the other end of the studio chimmed in via the intercom. "Really, good work Sakaki. You too Nakada. Again, thank you very much for working under the short notice after we had to moving session to today. Really, thank you much."

Nakada flicked his wrist at the staff on the other end of the glass. "Nonsense, nonsense. Relax director. We managed to get the first scene taken care of. All is well."

"Still, thank you thank you very much." He replied.

To which Shizuka bowed. "It's never a problem, Director Amistu. Is that all we're going to try to do today?"

"Yes. Next session we'll be able to get the entire episode finished."

That confirmation was all that the personnel needed. On the other side of the glass Shizuka could see people leaving, who she could only assume were producers. She saw the people doing the sound mixing stand up and stretch, and probably leave for cigarette breaks.

Yoroi Nakada grabbed his backpack off the floor and shoved his copy of the script into it. "It was great working with you Sakaki. I have to go take my mother to an appointment, so it's best I get going."

Shizuka bowed. "It was great working with you as well Mister Nakada!"

With a smile as wide as she could remember, Shizuka watched as he exited the booth before grabbing her purse. She was upset she had to work shift tonight before delivering more lines. She began to develop an almost irrational fear that her voice would develop an imperfection from talking to customers all evening instead of practicing her characters.

Removing her phone from her purse, she noticed she had only one notification. Ordinarily, this would not worry her, but it did when she noticed the name attached to the email.

* * *

 _Two hours prior_

 _~12:22pm_

"Miyamori! I do not like these cuts. These aren't from the Yasuhara I know. Who did these?"

"Minato Shimura did these cuts."Aoi Miyamori confusedly answered, walking from the 3D animation desk. "Why do you ask, Segawa? Is something wrong?"

"For the standard I hold Yasuhara to, they're awful. But for someone else… they could be much better. Stop by as soon as you can, I have retakes for him. Why was he on Yasuhara's cut?"

Aoi struggled to find the words. "We're starting production on the next season of Exodus…"

"I must not have been notified." Segawa said, irritation clearly present in her voice.

"Ah!" Aoi bowed, despite having the phone in her right hand. A habit she had grown accustomed to, but she never caught herself doing it enough to warrant conscious effort to break it. "I am sorry! I am so very sorry! I must have forgotten to email all of the episode supervisors! I apologize Segawa!"

Segawa had to calm Aoi down. Not the first time she has had to do so. "It's fine. It's fine. I have my notes written on the frames that need to be redone. Come pick them up so he can get started right away. If he works hard this weekend, he can have them into my hands by Wednesday morning."

"Not Monday?"

"Not likely. They're too heavy." She replied.

"Yes, Segawa. I'll notify Shimura right away."

"… Notify me of what, Miyamori?"

As soon as Miyamori ended the call, she noticed that she walked right into the break room, where she met the faces of Kinoshita Seiichi, Rinko Ogasawara and Minato Shimura.

Aoi jumped back in fear. How and why did she wander in here!?

"Uh…"

Minato's facial expression was one of general concern, and not worry. Which Aoi could deal with. All creatives get criticized, it was moreso in how you told them. It was unfortunate that his first work was in the shadow of the increasingly acclaimed Ema Yasuhara, but it couldn't be helped in this case.

"Masato Segawa said that…" Aoi's eyes drifted to the floor. "A lot of your frames… need to be redone."

Minato stood there, frozen. In front of three well respected employees of the studio, the youngest to be hired at the studio, and was directly told his first episodes frames weren't good enough. This was the first impression he was making. In honesty, it truly hurt.

But, not so much that it broke him.

"Well, I learned so much from the Dojo today that I can't wait to try out."

Miyamori and Seiichi were wide eyed.

"If it's not too much to ask, Miyamori." The young key animator began. "Do you mind if I go with you to speak with her later? I want to see exactly where I went wrong, and having her tell me instead of reading notes, I get to hear exactly what she needs."

Aoi had never seen someone take criticism so well. Maybe he internalized it well, but he just shrugged his shoulders and wanted to know where to go next.

"We can go now if you want." Aoi replied.

To which Minato smiled. "Sounds alright with me!"

As the two filed out, Rinko Ogasawara couldn't help but to suppress a smile.

 _That's the attitude you need to have to make it in this business._

* * *

 _Later that afternoon,_

 _~1:46pm_

Aoi sat by sipping tea in disbelief. Segawa had torn Minato's drawings apart, on the verge of being outright mean, and surprisingly more so, the newbie had not taken it personally… at least on the surface.

"The way you have them drawn, they as characters look good." Segawa said.

"Yeah, that's what I was going for." He replied.

"I see. You're all in character design. I could tell in only a few seconds. You have their characters drawn well, but they all look stiff."

"Dammit." He said, biting his thumb. "I thought I was playing to the strength of the manga in focusing that direction."

"Sorry, but that's low hanging fruit. They look like they are posing instead of moving. Like this frame here."

Minato Shimura looked at the Key Frame of Ape J. Ruffy stretching to the top of the tree to pull down a banana. "It's missing some movements, and it doesn't look like he's reaching."

"I went to the dojo and I observed some things. I think this fight I could improve. Most likely it'll translate."

Misato Segawa shifted through some more papers. "But don't forget, an underrated quality of this manga is getting the characters to move. _That_ has to translate. He has three swords, he has a stretchy body, and he has very long legs. Utilize them a little better."

Minato smiled. "Alright, I think I get exactly what to do."

Misato Segawa raised her hands high and stretched, arching her back backwards. "You know, usually Key Animators don't smile when they get retakes." She groaned.

"Oh no, I'm actually pretty upset. Very upset." He began. "But I'll get there. I will."

Aoi retrieved her daily planner. "When do you want these retakes done, Segawa?"

"Some of these cuts are heavy. Most of them aren't too difficult, just tedious." Segawa began. "If you can get these back to me on first thing Wednesday, I can have them looked over and stamped for inbetweeming by the end of that day. It'll have to come in first thing."

"That'll make the schedule extremely tight." Aoi sighed.

"What choice do we have now?" Segawa sighed, placing the cuts back into the bag.

"Monday morning." Minato interjected. "I can get this done over the weekend."

Both women were colored shocked, although Misato looked sarcastically with a grin. "It's Friday." They said in unison.

"All weekend." Minato said. "If I work all weekend, I can have them on your desk Monday morning, Miyamori."

Aoi was shocked but confused that Minato would even suggest retaking an entire scene _his first weekend on the job._ "But… you heard Segawa, these cuts are heavy."

Minato took the cut back from Segawa and tucked it under his arm. "I wouldn't get new work until Monday afternoon. I can have it on your desk sometime that morning. If you run errands Monday morning, Segawa could finish them by the end of the day."

Segawa cocked her head in confusion. "That's an extremely tall order."

Minato stood up. "Indeed, Segawa-Senpai. That isn't an excuse for me not to try though."

Segawa smiled and stood up. Placing her hands on her hips, she challenged the young Key Animator. "I'll look forward to seeing your improvements then."

And Minato rose to the occasion. "As do I."

* * *

 _~Later That Day,_

 _~11:17pm_

 **/Ring Ring**

 **/Ring Ring**

"Ah, Shizuka Sakaki! You must be outside."

"Hello, Minato? I am. I think I'm at the front door."

"Is there a sign that says Musashino Productions ahead of you? Then you're at the right place, haha. I'll be out shortly. Hang on."

"Ok! See you in a few minutes."

With great nervousness, Shizuka Sakaki could not help but clench her phone tightly, and she continued to mentally rehearse her own lines. This was about to be her delivering Miharu's voice for the first time. Unfortunately, this would be without the director. And since Shizuka was more comfortable with Director Kozuki, she could afford to try different voices, and begin some chemistry with the other voice actors.

The front door opened, and Minato Shimura hung out the side. "Ah, you found the directions ok in my email! Good, I was worried!"

Shizuka nervously grinned. "I mean, you sent five." As she pointed to her phone.

Minato nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I was making sure you'd find the place ok. Let's get started, I got us all set up."

The two walked through the maze of cubicles, in the dimly lit and mostly vacant studio. As Shizuka followed the dark haired Key Animator, her heart began to race.

Minato turned into his cubicle and took a seat close to the window, at Matsui's desk, which was flooded with papers. On his desk, closer to the hallway, a microphone hinged on the edge of the desk, connected to a small grey tablet computer.

"Take a seat." Minato sighed as he plopped down on his chair and removed his glasses.

"Farshighted I take it?" Shiizuka asked, as she placed her purse nearest Minato's normal chair.

"Nearsighted. But no, my eyes just hurt." Minato said, fumbling in his bag. "Been at this for a minute."

"I'm sorry. We can do this some other time."

"Oh nonsense, Miss Sakaki." He said, pulling a convenience store bento from his bag and placing it on the mountain of papers he possessed on a desk that wasn't his. "I'll just be here all weekend. To be honest you're providing me with a break."

Shizuka sat down nervously. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course." Minato said. He wanted to complement her on how appealing to the eye she was, if even to make her more comfortable, but thought against it. "Are you… excited?" he nervously asked.

"I mean… Im a little unsure." She said. "I don't know exactly how to make her sound. I don't have it down."

Minato nervously laughed to ease her nerves. And his own. "Oh don't worry about it. We've got as long as you need to try things out."

He rose to his feet and approached his makeshift studio. He adjusted the microphone circular microphone to Shizuka's natural sitting height, and made a few taps on his tablet. There was a red dot that lit up on the microphone.

"Alright, Shizuka. Whenever you're ready…" Minato said, taking his seat and subsequently shoveling the rice ball into his mouth.

The red haired female leaned in. "My name is… Miharu Yamashida!"

Minato choked and spit out his rice, laughing.

To which Shizuka immediately took to the defense. "I find nothing to be funny!"

Minato rolled his chair over to his tablet, to which he made a few more taps on the screen. "I'm sorry Miss Sakaki, but I don't think that that's it."

She glared at him. "Well give me another take." She subtly snapped. "And you can call me Shizuka."

"Apologies, Miss Shizuka."

Internally, both of them screamed " _Dammit!"_

"…Alright. Whenever you're ready."

With more nerves than before, Shizuka approached the microphone. She took a deep breath.

"My name is Miharu Yamashida." She looked to Minato to flash her the thumbs up, and he did so with a mouthful of fish.

"Because… you _know_ you'll regret it if you don't."

Minato sighed, "Sorry. I don't think that's it. Sounds a little too snobbish."

Shizuka frowned. Mostly because she was upset with herself. She just didn't know what the hell to bring out in Miharu. Why? She didn't know. This was just a damn promotional video after all!

Minato tapped on the computer once more. "You sound a little stiff."

Shizuka looked at her script once more.

"I'm just not... there." Shizuka sighed. "Can you… read with me?"

Minato looked in his bag for his own copy of the script. "Let's just have the conversation organically, don't worry about how fast or slow we go. Let's just get it down."

Shizuka nodded. "Yeah. My name is Miharu. Miharu Yamashida."

"A freshman? Why should we let you into the prestigious Tanaka Culinary Academy?"

"Because you'll definitely regret it."

"And why would I?"

Shizuka took a deep breath.

...

"Dammit." Shizuka mumbled.

"You're just not feeling it today, hunh?"

"No. I don't think I have a good gasp on her for whatever reason. I had a bunch of ideas I wanted to try, but I don't know exactly what the director wants from me."

Minato folded his arms to think. "You do have a good point."

Shizuka stared at her lines. She couldn't bring herself to panic, because she was too busy trying to focus on getting out of this funk she was in. She simply… was at a loss.

And then, the lightbulb clicked.

"You designed her!" she said.

"Right." He replied. "I did…"

"Is there anything you can tell me about her and what the director wants?"

Minato smiled. "Well… we wanted a strong female lead when we thought of her. Talented. Arrogant and Sexy were the three traits we discussed first."

Shizuka removed a pen from her purse and scrawled as fast as she could on her paper. "So here… she's getting challenged. So try to sound more arrogant?"

"Yes." Minato said. "But not too arrogant. She's talented, very much so. But her arrogance comes from… knowing how talented she is. That makes sense right?"

Shizuka smiled, if only her own arrogance could outweigh her humbleness, she might have more jobs.

"So what else, how did you feel when you were drawing her?"

Minato smiled and seemed to be a little red in the face. "Well, this stems a little bit from the ideal girl I wanted when I was that age."

Didn't see that coming. "Oh?"

"Yeah… something about the confidence and the… red hair." Awkward silence fell on the pair. "Personality wise! In the later episodes, she shows a more compassionate side and takes after Inora Kozuki a little. But for the most part, she is intended just to be the girl that guys want and the girl that a lot of more… quiet and introverted girls want to be." He hastily continued.

"I'VE GOT IT!"

"Oh?" Didn't see that coming.

"How about... you sound more... intimidating." She asked. "And can you let me see the character design?"

Minato grabbed his bag. "Think it'll help?"

"If I'm looking at her, I can bring that out of her."

Minato smiled. "That sounds genius."

Shimura made more taps on the screen, and the red light appeared again.

"Whenever you're ready, Shizuka."

* * *

 _The dark red haired teen approached the registration table, and slammed her paperwork on the desk._

 _"My name is Miharu Yamashida." She said, grinning._

 _The intimidating looking man in a dapper grey suit towered over her as he stood. Such pride!_

 _"Eh, a first year from a small harbor town? Why should I let you in this prestigious academy? There are people that have traveled all over the world for experience to even apply here."_

 _She leaned in closer. "Oh, because you'll regret it if you don't."_

 _"You jest."_

 _"Oh no, sir. Once I hit my prime, everyone will know you passed up on me. Then no one will want to come her because you can't evaluate good talent." she challenged._

 _"Ha! You're going to do that!? How?"_

 _"Because, sir. You're looking at someone who's going to be the best damn chef there's ever been."_

* * *

 _Monday, August 8_ _th_

 _~9:02am_

Aoi Miyamori approached the production office, cursing herself for running late to the general meeting. The Production Desk, not at her desk!? Damn her alarm, being at only a "7" volume when it knows it should be at a "10." What does it think it's doing?

She jogged into the office, and immediately apologized to everyone present. "Everyone I'm very sorry!"

The entire production staff looked at her with quizzical looks.

"Right on time Miyamori! I was just telling everyone how much the opening episode of Exodus will be packed with the Taoru Takanashi guarantee of pure quality!"

 _Tarou Takanashi – Head Production Assistant_

Aoi bowed. "I am sorry everyone."

"It's alright, Miyamori. Just don't make a habit of it."

 _Yuka Okitsu – General Manager_

"I will not." Miyamori said as she took her seat.

She proceeded to have her jaw drop to the surface of her cubicle space.

The frames from Minato Shimura, were on her desk, signed for completion, and ready for the next stage of animation.

The other was a note from Jun Watanabe, the Line Producer. It simply said, "Call me. Urgent."

Anytime Aoi has talked to the Line Producer, she's never fond of what he had to ask of her. This time did not look to be any different.

 **Next Time on "Love Is Like A Good Anime, Right?"**

 **Episode Eight, "Would You Like To…?"**

* * *

Authors Note: This chapter is the real kickoff of the second arc, I hope you noticed all the time and energy I put into it. Here I focused on the Anime Minato and Shizuka are working on, because it is important in the later chapters, but the time I'll spend actually writing them working on it will take a backseat to other events, so I figured now is a good time to make it plot relevant.

Also, this chapter was primarily used for both me and you, the reader, to get a good foothold of time. The only complaint I have about Shirobako the anime (literally the only negative, and I still rank it a 10/10 masterpeice) is that we don't have a good sense of how their time goes on. One episode, they'll have everything take place over two days, then the next episode has a time skip of over a few weeks, and takes place over a whole month. The anime didn't make it difficult to follow, but if I leapt from scene to scene in that same fashion, it'd be the opposite.

Basic point is that there are several plot events stemming from the Interview in episode one. The story is going to focus on these events, and I'd hate to have your opinion of the story become negative because the timeline's relationship of events is blurred. It'll make sense later.

Anyways, I enjoy talking about WHY I write things the way I do in this story just as much as I enjoy writing the fic itself. I've planned ahead three chapters after this one, and this very next chapter is my FAVORITE. So, thank you all for reading and I'd love to see you reading the next chapter.

Until next time!


	8. Would You Like To?

Chapter Eight

"Would You Like To?"

 _Monday, August 8_ _th_

 _~9:58am_

Shizuka Sakaki's job, when you really think about it, is talking. That's it. However, not to persuade, or deceive, but to convince. She was to become someone else, adopting their name, clothes, motivations, hopes, goals, dreams and thoughts, and become their voice. Convince an entire audience that she, and whom she is speaking for, is real.

It sounded silly when she had work, but motivated her to new heights while going on a job. This thought process, coupled with the rightful optimism surrounding the upward trajectory of her career, gave her a new reason to be confident. A new reason to get out of bed in the morning. Something to smile about.

However, this confidence melted away as she walked through the doors of Musashino Animation underneath the scorching August heat. She was as nervous as her first audition, being as out of place as ever. She walked these same halls over the weekend, under the cover of night, but nobody was here. Now the studio was full. Vibrant. She could smell the creativity and stress in the air. Musani was now awake. Full of real animators, and real directors, and real producers.

 _Damn her for wanting to be so polite on her way to work. A morning shift no less! Who bothers being polite this early!?_

With her purse in her right hand, and a box of mini-doughnuts in the left, she trudged carefully through the studio. Shizuka felt that all of the employees were staring at her, focused on the intruder, who doesn't even belong. People walking past her on their way to get coffee. Gathering their daily supplies.

Unbeknownst to her, not a single soul questioned her presence. Anyone walking by, or happened to see her just though "Oh, delivery."

All except for one person that recognized her. She turned a corner bumped into a familiar blonde producer.

"Oh!"

"Ah!"

As both of the humans doubled back, their eyes met. The dark smoldering eyes of Aoi Miyamori met the blue orbs of Shizuka Sakaki.

"Aoi?"

"Zuka-chan? What are you doing here?" Miyamori asked, adjusting the three cut bags she held underneath her shoulder.

Shizuka felt almost embarrassed to begin. "I'm looking for… Shimura." She said. "This weekend we recorded lines for this… new anime he roped me into. And he helped me out. I'm… repaying the favor." She held up the small box of doughnuts.

Aoi recognized the box. It was from a bakery not too far from where Shizuka lived actually, the bakery that Yutaka Honda worked at, the man that was once a producer for Musani.

"Oh, ok? I think Ema might have mentioned this anime a while ago." Aoi was confused, but didn't have time to ponder. She and Shizuka hadn't been able to speak much recently, so seeing her in Musani was the last thing she expected to see today. And that was with an uncharacteristic emergency meeting on her plate. "I really have to get going with these cuts. But it was great seeing you, Zuka-chan!" Aoi smiled.

"Yes, it was good seeing you." Shizuka replied back.

The two girls smiled, and Aoi hastily moved past Shizuka, and darted around the corner.

Then Shizuka remembered something important. "Aoi! While I'm here…"

She managed to just catch Aoi. "Yes?"

"Thursday, my episode of Two Piece airs. I was wondering if you would be… able to watch it with me and Mii-chan and Rii-chan."

Aoi smiled harder than she had done in the past month. "Yes! Wouldn't miss it for the world!"

Shizuka returned the dazzling smile. "Thank you, Aoi. I'll see you then!"

"Alright!"

The two girls smiled as they parted ways. Miyamori headed out of the studio, en route to a meeting. Sakaki, deeper into the bowels of Musani to find Minato Shimura.

She didn't walk for long, as she retraced her two da old steps, only to find him hunched over his desk, his arms covering his face, sleeping quietly, wearing the exact same clothes she saw him in Saturday night.

 _So he didn't really leave the studio at all? Jeez._

She was surprised that she was surprised. Doing Key Frames for two anime must take it's toll. Shyness overtaking her, she quietly placed the doughnuts on the desk, and tried to back away silently.

The plan failed.

Minato Shimura sprang up.

"Mini Dougnut Delights from the best smallest bakery in Tokyo." He recited as if her were in a trance.

"Uh?"

"Oi, Shizuka!" he was surprised to see her, wiping a quickly drying trail of drool off his face.

"Hi." She awkwardly smiled. "Well… I got these for you. You took so much time away from your own work to help out my schedule, I figured I'd thank you with these."

A waterfall of tears fell from his eyes as he clapped his hands together as if he prayed to her. "Thank you so much, I love it!" he cried.

If she didn't feel so nervous about being here during regular business hours, she would find this adorable. "Don't mention it, don't mention it at all. I'm the one who should be thankful."

He hugged the box of doughnuts as if it were a recently returned runaway animal as he continued the tears of joy. "I'm just so happy! These are almost as good as the spicy dumplings from Matsutei!"

 _Matsutei?_

"I work there." She said. "I'm actually going in shortly."

Minato paused. "That's you there! I try to go there every Thursday for the lunch special!"

Shizuka let her excitement get the best of her. "Ah! I usually work afternoons, that's why you don't see me. If you aren't busy that night, my friends and I are watching _Two Piece_ there. I have a lot of lines in the episode, and it's a special dumpling dinner special!"

"I love _Two Piece_! And Dumplings!" Minato screamed, and then immediately shrunk in his chair due to being so noisy. "Count me in, Shi!"

She smiled, genuinely. "Good, I'll see you then! I should really be going, have a nice day!"

Minato smiled even wider than she. "You too!"

She took a breath on her way out. No way she would regret a customer seeing her drinking and among her friends right?

Right?

* * *

…

 _~Later that day_

 _10:15am_

If you asked Aoi Miyamori "What has being a Production Desk made her good or better at?" and then tell her she was not allowed to answer "patience", her answer would probably be "reading the room."

At first it would strike you as Left Field for her to say something like that, but then on days like today…

She walked into the conference room, and immediately saw the sour and disappointed expressions of Jun Watanabe the Line Producer, Kinoshita Seiichi the Director, Kotarou Katsuragi, a high end producer, and Masato Marukawa the President of the studio, there was an issue.

Now that she thought about it, the fact that all four of them were in the same room at the same time was the biggest red flag of all.

 _Was she being fired!?_

"Miyamori," Watanabe began, adjusting his hat. "We're facing an issue.

Aoi took a seat, eyes wide. Heart filled with worry.

Jun began. "There's a strong possibility we might not get to finish the season of _Two Piece_."

"WHAT?" Aoi shouted, emotions taking a hold of her.

Kotarou Katsuragi sighed. "Well it started last week, with the author of the manga not liking our cuts."

Aoi cut him off before he could speak further. "But we had our animators go to a dojo to improve! And even then, those changes won't show up for two more weeks, when Episode Five is going to-"

"It's apparently more than that." Kinoshita Seiichi folded his arms and sighed, looking at the ceiling.

 _Pouting_ , Aoi noticed.

 _What the hell was happening?_

Watanabe resumed speaking. "The author complained about us to one of his friends. As it turns out, the friend is the author for _One Kick Woman_."

"The manga about the superhero who can end any fight in one kick?" Aoi asked.

"The very same." Watanabe nodded. "Anyways, he was given the idea to turn _Two Piece_ into a weekly series, ignoring seasons entirely, and he is looking to pursue that."

Katsuragi explained next. "And the problem here is that since it's the most popular manga in the world, we don't have any leverage to keep it. We need him more than he needs us."

Aoi was more puzzled than worried, and she was extremely worried. "Then why can't we make it a weekly?"

"Because," Watanabe began. "We're bidding against Alpha One. That's nearly impossible in and of itself. They want it bad. You know we aren't built to keep the show going as a weekly for god knows how long."

Marukawa didn't hang his head, but disappointment was written on his face. "We'd relinquish everything we have. Scenes. Frames. Even color palette's, and there's nothing we can do about it. But…there's unfortunately a much bigger problem here than losing an anime."

"Oh?"

Watanabe checked his phone. "We've finally got _Exodus!_ season 2 into production. We've gotten the writing staff together on _Border Town Depopulation Girl_. And even though the booksellers want _Third Aerial Girls Squad_ to let the manga run for a while before the next season starts, we have the contract to work on that. But that's months, nearly a year, away."

"Then what's the bigger problem?" Aoi asked.

The entire room fell deathly silent. Aoi, to this day, swears she could have heard her own blood flowing through her body.

"Well…" Katsuragi explained. "The plan of hiring all of the new staff was to have a good chunk of them work on _Two Piece_ , and their contracts expire when the season ended at the end of the year, while we have our regulars work on _Exodus!_ But if we get the plug pulled on Two Piece, then there's no work and no place for them."

Watanabe looked away from his phone and then to Miyamori. "That means of the thirty new people we hired for the workload, we can't retain any of them. Their contracts have to be terminated."

"It's even going to be slow work for most of our own." Katsuragi explained.

Aoi's heart sank. Kinoshita Seiichi sunk in his chair. Watanabe stared gloomily at the table.

"So what are we to do?" Aoi asked.

"We aren't giving up without a fight. And we don't know anything officially yet, so we aren't alarming any staff." Watanabe said. "Keep everything on schedule. But just in case we shut down production, you're prepared for what follows next."

"Director, what's the furthest episode are we working on now?" Katsuragi asked.

"Erm… I believe I just got a copy of the script for Episode Ten yesterday."

"Miyamori, is Episode Three finished?" Katsuragi asked.

"It should be ready to be delivered tomorrow afternoon." She said. "I'm not working on another episode until Episode Ten."

Watanabe rose from his chair. "In that case, meet with Erika Yano. Come up with a plan to reshuffle the staff in case we get the worst news."

"Yes, sir."

 **/Ring ring**

 **/Ring ring**

 **/Ring ring**

Aoi checked her phone. It was a producer, Ringo Katsuka, calling her. One of the thirty people that were hired at the studio to help with the _Two Piece_ workload. Aoi was almost on the verge of tears when Miya interviewed for the job. She left working her parents restaurant in Fukuoka to take a stab at working the anime industry.

"I'm sorry." Aoi said to the staff present I the room, I have to take this."

They all nodded. Each person rose from their chairs, collected their phones, files and cut bags, and marched out of the conference room, heading right back to work.

While this type of situation happens all the time in the industry, it hardly felt that it was business as usual.

* * *

…

 _Later that day_

 _~12:45pm_

Ema Yasuhara was a fan of routines, unlike most twenty-somethings her age. Each morning, unless she was in a huge time crunch, she biked to the studio and began work around 10:30am, working until usually 7pm. She took a forty minute lunch break. Twenty minutes to eat and rest her throbbing right hand, and twenty minutes to walk and stretch the legs. Sometimes to the local park, other times it was just around the block. Anytime her creativeness felt strained, she took five minutes to walk on the roof of the studio and "dance."

Once home, she always ate first. Caught up on any house work, and usually watched the news until bedtime, at which point she showered and went straight to sleep.

Like clockwork.

But today was different. In the midst of her walk from the local park, getting through the wall of the current frame she had been struggling with for the past two hours, she received a call. Being a Key Animator, her heart began to sink. Anything the other party said was usually information too urgent and negative to be placed in an email for you to answer at your convenience.

But she didn't recognize the number, and her sinking heart began to race. "Hello?" she nervously answered.

"Hello, is this Yasuhara Ema?" A soft male voice greeted her on the other line.

"Yes, this is she." She replied, still nervous.

"Hello! My name Sayako Naranaka, I'm a Line Producer for Alpha One Pictures. We noticed your amazing work for Musashino Productions, and we were wondering if you would like to work for us."

Ema shook her head. "Oh? I apologize," she began. "I'm unable to take on much extra work."

"Oh no, Miss Yasuhara. I mean we here are looking to hire you and bring your stellar talents fully on board. We have a new anime that just got moved into production, and were thin in the Key Animation department. we'd love to have you on the team."

Ema's heart skipped a beat. "You would… like me to come work for AlphaOne Pictures?"

"Oh yes!" Naranaka said. "We're prepared to offer you a very competitive salary, and more creative freedom than I'm sure you're used to. And there's a nice Mahogany desk with your name on it, haha."

 _If you want to leave, this is your chance._

Ema thought as hard as she could. She could not decide, not like this. Not staring at the building from a block away.

"I appreciate this opportunity, very much." She said. "I don't think I can decide right now though. Is it possible for me to get back to you?"

"Not a problem at all, Miss Yasuhara. I wasn't expecting an immediate answer. This is the number you can reach me at, at any time of day if you have questions. Let's see… if I don't hear from you this week I'll give you a call on Friday afternoon. 3pm? Does that give you enough time?"

 _Not nearly._

"It does, thank you." She murmured.

"Alright, sounds great. Thank you very much Miss Yasuhara. You have a great day!"

"You as well Mister Naranaka."

Ema ended the call, and she took a deep breath.

 _What the hell was she to do?_

* * *

…

 _Thursday, August 11_ _th_

 _~7:45pm_

Minato looked on the outside of the pub. He goes here once a week, but hasn't been able to recently. He was about to walk and see Shizuka, and the remainder of her friends. He'd know nobody. And he admittedly isn't the best in social situations.

"Alright, you're grabbing some drinks, watching a show and heading home. 30 minutes." He sighed heavily. "You can do this."

 _Why was he so nervous!?_ His heart raced.

He could see Shizuka inside, her striking red hair. Ema Yasuhara's smile. And Aoi Miyamori's pretty blonde hair.

He took one step forward, but stopped as he saw a young couple approach the door before him.

"Come on, it's going to be perfectly fine. You have nothing to worry about!" the woman said. "These are my best friends!"

"I know, I know." The man replied. "I just want to make an impression!"

"Stop it!" she replied. "You spent forty minutes picking out your shirt."

"I still think I should have picked the black one." He lamented.

" _Baka_! We are going to be fine. Let's goooo."

She swung the door open and grabbed him by the arm and pulled him in.

"Midori wait!" he pleaded, trying to resist.

As the couple entered the door, they charged to the table seating her friends, at which point she was immediately greeted.

Ema Yasuhara looked up from her food. "Midori!"

Aoi Miyamori rose to her feet. "Rii-chan!"

Shizuka Sakaki rose her glass. "I'm glad you could make it!"

Midori smiled as she hugged Aoi tightly. "You know I wouldn't miss this for anything! But I have someone I want you all to meet!"

She stepped to the side. "This is Ishoka Damiyo." She pointed out a man beside her. "He and I have been dating for a few weeks now."

He rubbed the back of his head with his right, and waved with his left. "I'm happy to meet all of you."

Each of the girls waved back, but admittedly, were shocked and quiet.

Didn't see that one coming.

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Glad to see you."

"Nice seeing you."

They took their seats. Admittedly, it was awkward for everyone at first, an unexpected newcomer approached the table. However, another unexpected newcomer barged in the door as well, breaking all of the metaphorical ice.

"Ah! Miyamori!" that person yelled.

Aoi looked up from the food menu and saw a familiar blonde haired coworker.

"Takanashi!?" she screamed. "What are you doing here!?"

Taoru smiled. "Well, I was nearby when one of your cute friends invited by buddy here!"

It was then that the entire pub notices that Taoru's entire arm was around the shoulders of Minato Shimura, looking every bit as uncomfortable as could be.

"So since he was going to this pub, I usually come here sometimes, and I figured tonight is a nice night to come support Miyamori's hot friend!"

Shizuka sipped her beer. "I work here and I literally have never seen you before."

"So, buddy!" Takanashi screamed into Minato's ear. "Where are we sitting!?"

Minato struggled under Taoru's weight. "I don't know… you're kinda crushing my spine…"

The two males walked over to the table where Takanashi sat at the table, between Midori and Aoi, and grabbed Aoi's menu and looked for a drink order. Minato took a seat on the other side of the table, an empty chair to his left, and Shizuka to his right, but at the head of the table.

"Hi, Shizuka." Minato said. "Are you excited?"

Shizuka nodded. "I mean I'm more nervous than-"

Takanashi blurted out. "Ah! Waitress please! I'd like to order a beer for me and my buddy!"

Aoi sighed as she finished her drink. By how tonight looked, she would need two or three more. Or upgrade to liquor. "It's a small bar, and we're basically the only ones here, you don't have to yell, Takanashi."

Tarou smiled. "I'm not yelling, you're yelling!"

"I'm not even raising my-"

"Ten minutes till!" Takanashi shouted. "Aoi's hot friend! Are you excited!?" he peered directly at Shizuka.

Shizuka looked at Takanashi, unsure of exactly how to go about this situation. "Erm… I'm nervous." She sipped her drink, getting a disapproving look from the blonde producer.

In all the commotion, the entire table didn't even notice the approach of Misa Todou. The dark haired girl walked in casually and was on her phone the entire time.

"Hey girls." She said, taking her seat. "Hi, Ishoka. Good seeing you!"

The remainder of the girls were taken aback. "You knew Rii was seeing someone?" Ema asked.

"Oh yeah!" Misa said. "Ishoka is my next door neighbor. He was over my house borrowing my computer to pay some bills and Midori happened stop by on her way back from work. And they just clicked."

Aoi smiled. "That's cute!"

Ishoka Damiyo smiled. "Yes. I could feel that there was just something the first time I saw her."

Minato's heart skipped a beat.

Tarou Takanashi wrapped his arm around Damiyo, almost crushing his neck as well. "Ah! Let's have a toast for true love!"

"Well I hardly think that this is true-"

"CHEEEEERS!"

The remainder of the table was not as enthused, but raised their drinks. "Uh… cheers."

The next few minutes, food was ordered conversation was had, and the main event, the TV came on. _Two Piece_ was playing loudly on the main television.

Shizuka's smile was as big as could be as the theme was playing. And the entire time, Minato couldn't take his eyes off her gorgeous smile as she oogled the television. Her eyes focused. Her soul gravitated to the screen.

Thirty minutes went by without much conversation. The occasional laugh, a good job, a high five. As quickly as the episode started, the ending theme began playing. Shizuka's character had a total of eleven minutes of screen time, and plenty of lines. It was more than enough to get her voice out there, and everyone felt more optimistic about her future than ever before.

This was more than a stepping stone. This was a turning point. The rest of the industry had to take notice.

"That's awesome, Shizuka!" Midori was the first to congratulate her. "I'm really proud of you!"

"Same here." Minato said. "That was a great performance."

"A lot of places are going to call you now!" Aoi exclaimed.

The word "call" triggered, Ema, and she looked down to her drink in guilt for a few moments.

"Oh thank you." Shizuka said. "But it was nothing too particular. I'm sure there were some lines I could have delivered better."

"Nonsense." Misa said. "Don't start doubting yourself like that. Always room for improvement, but appreciate the good job!"

Ema nodded. "Yes! And now you have the other anime you're working on as well. I'm sure you're going to have plenty of chances to improve."

Midori and Misa looked up. "Oh!?"

Shizuka looked surprised as well. "Oh! I'm sorry I haven't told you! I'm brought on to be the voice actress of a main character of a web anime. Shimura got me into it. He's the main character designer."

All eyes looked to both Minato and Shizuka.

"That's fantastic!"

"Good work!"

"That's amazing. What anime is it!?"

"Uh… Miharu's Masterpiece." He replied.

"I've heard of that!" Misa said. "I'm actually very excited for that to come out!"

"It's nothing really, right place right time." Minato nervously smiled, sipping his third beer.

"Oh, its not nothing." Shizuka said, mouthful of rice. "Tell me Shimiura, how did you even get to Musani?"

Minato nervously responded. He never liked being in the spotlight. "Oh, I just applied and got hired. Nothing too special."

That answer didn't satisfy Tarou Takanashi, who by this point, had one too many. "No! Come on buddy! You have to tell us!"

The entire table looked at Minato, and realized that he was mostly quiet the entire night. Maybe a quick statement here or there, but was mostly silent.

"Well… uh. I used to work for Studio Sky." He began.

"The studio that went bankrupt!" Midori gasped.

"The very same. The only anime we had was _Phoenix Orb Z_." Minato said. "And well… I didn't get my last paycheck so I kinda got evicted. I was already late on my rent."

The table fell deathly silent.

"My best friend Matsui Oda was out of town with his wife at the time, so I couldn't stay at his place. And my other best friend Inora was visiting her mom for a week, so I was kinda… out of luck."

"What did you do?" Ema asked.

"Well, I grabbed my blanket and I slept in the park. Thankful it wasn't raining. Inora overnighted me her spare apartment key and I crashed at her place for a few days."

"I'm so sorry." Shizuka said, seeming genuinely sorry for asking.

"No it's fine." Minato reassured her. "Anyways, so Inora and her daughter come back, where Inora is telling me about this job posting for Musashino Productions. Her ten month old daughter was playing on her smartphone and opened up a job posting site Inora had bookmarked. And she thought to tell me.

Misa laughed. "Very convenient."

"Yeah," Minato replied. "It's why she named her daughter Hope."

"Studio Hope…" Shizuka murmured to herself.

"And I applied, and next thing I know I'm hired."

The entire table let out an optimistic breath for him. Aoi was almost on the verge of tears, especially since she remembered her meeting on Monday.

Well… everyone except for Tarou. "That's a nice story. That reminds me of the time I got hired. It was a warm summers day, and-"

Aoi hit Takanashi on the back of the head, causing a large red lump to appear. "Nobody needs to hear that story Takanashi!"

The entire table laughed, as the last of the food was eaten, and the last of the drinks were consumed shortly after.

"I have to be up early, and then have work right after, so I'm going to head out." Shizuka replied.

"So soon?" Ema asked.

Misa got up as well. "Yes, I think I should go into the office early as well." She yawned. "Busy week."

"I'll walk you both out." Minato stood up. "I've had more than enough to drink, and I don't want to fall asleep on the train home."

Goodbyes were said, hugs were given, and after tabs were paid. The trio of Shizuka Sakaki, Midori Imai, and Minato Shimura headed into the cool night air. The crescent moon was bright and exposed, smiling at the events of the day.

"Well, thank you for inviting me Shizuka. Again, I'm really proud of you." Misa said.

Shizuka nodded and smiled. "Thank you very much. Are you busy this weekend? We should get lunch."

Midori looked at her phone once more, presumably checking her calendar. "Erm… maybe Sunday. But I'll have to get back to you on that." She said.

"Seems good. Goodbye Mii-chan!"

"Not a problem Zuka-chan. Great seeing you. And nice to meet you as well, Shimura." Misa added

"Pleasure is all mine." He replied.

Their paths split, only to rejoin again in the future. Misa turned and walked south, and Minato and Shizuka walked up one city block north before their paths were to split as well.

"Well, thank you for inviting me." He told the red haired beauty. "I had a lot of fun with your friends."

"I'm glad. Hope it wasn't too awkward being in front of coworkers and a bunch of people you don't know."

Minato forced a nervous laugh. "Not too bad." He said. "Do you live far? Do you want me to walk you home?"

Shizuka shook her head. "No no, its fine. I stay three blocks over and one block up. It's too much walking for you. Your train isn't exactly close by."

"Yah, just making sure." He trailed off.

"Have a good night, Minato." She smiled, and she turned away.

Minato walked forward four paces, and pressed the crosswalk button on the nearby light pole.

He looked at Shizuka as she walked away, progressively getting closer and closer to being out of earshot. Her beautiful eyes. Her striking red hair. And her gorgeous smile. Her full cheeks. Her radiant skin.

The voice of Ishoka Damiyo's voice played in his head again and again.

 _I could feel that there was just something the first time I saw her._

Minato lost control. He would never get this chance again. "Shizuka!" he yelled.

She stopped her pace and turned to face him.

"Yes?"

A handful of people in the area. Cars driving through the intersection. The noisy city surrounding them, and everything seemed to fall silent. Everything melted away. All Minato saw, in this moment, was Shizuka.

"I was wondering… would like to go out with me sometime. Like… a date?"

Shizuka's eyes widened. The entire setting melted away. The people walking past her were no longer there. The sounds of Tokyo no longer mattered. The only thing she could see was Minato's face, hidden behind his glasses, nervously and patiently awaiting her answer.

 _I could feel that there was just something the first time I saw her._

 **Next Time on "Love Is Like A Good Anime, Right?"**

 **Episode Nine, "Make It Work!"**

* * *

 _Authors Note:_

 _Hello all, Marauder here. I've been absent for a while, as I'm sure you've seen. Early 2016, my computer's hard drive died and all my data was unable to be taken off of it. After scrounging through emails, old folders, and old computers I recovered about 80% of what I lost. In July the external hard drive I had storing all of that info, and the mostly-finished chapter eight, was lost. To this day I have no clue where it went. Seven years of writing, concept art, brainstorming, drafts and everything essential most essential to what writers need. Gone. Twice. In one calendar year. What then buried my desire to write was the school semester starting immediately after._

 _What was worse, I started this fic writing the final chapter first. Before anything. Honestly, it was one of my most favorite things I've ever written. Gone in the most recent accident, making it almost impossible for me to want to give it another go._

 _Even though I don't have a bunch of followers and reviews, i still love each and every visit to the story, so I'll try my best to finish it._

 _I have a full time job now, so chapters will be difficult to plan and type. BUT I am going to try. I'm looking at this being 12-14 chapters long. Not entirely sure. But thank you for reading, and Ill see you in the next one._

 _Reviews get you the next chapter faster, haha._


	9. Make It Work!

Chapter Nine

"Make it Work!"

 _To put it simply, this is where everything changes._

 _Friday, August 10_ _th_

~2:54pm

From the moment she woke up, Ema was dreading each and every second.

AlphaOne Pictures was supposed to call her today. She woke in the morning worried. Showered and cleaned herself, worried. Ate worried. Biked worried. She was to go to work, and attempt to be normal, but unsure of what was to happen next. Her hands were shaking as she drew frame after frame, the quality of each frame suffering minimally.

She moved to the roof in anticipation of the call, to find it clear. A relatively quiet place to think, and wait.

Her wait was not a long one, as her phone soon vibrated in her hand shortly as she found herself comfortable.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Good afternoon, Miss Yasuhara. I'm happy to speak with you again."

"Mister Naranaka." Ema began. "Good to hear from you as well."

"I have a bit of news before we begin Ema, the anime we recruited you for turned out being turned into a movie, and as such we will not require your use as a full time employee in that department."

Ema was so taken aback she had no idea whether to be grateful or insulted. But that was for lter. For now it was a sigh of relief.

For about a millisecond.

"We have recently gotten a new anime. I believe you have heard of it, it is called _Two Piece_."

Ema's heart stopped.

"It is turning into a weekly series instead of a seasonal one. With your expertise in drawing the frames, and your familiarity with the art, we would love to have you on board."

Ema stopped. "But I…" where does she even BEGIN!? "I haven't worked on any frames in a few weeks as we're working on _Exodus!_ , so..."

"Oh no no. We aren't asking you to join us as a Key Animator this time, haha. This will be a weekly for, only God knows how long. We would love for you to join the team as a Key Animator, and then soon after, we would then make you an Animation director! You would oversee a lot of the Key Frames and occasionally do some yourself."

Yasuhara was silent.

"Your office would be right next to the main art director, the anime director, the storyboarders, and next to all the producers. In fact, had it not been the art director being friends with the creator, you would oversee the art department as a whole."

So… Musani had it's anime stolen?

She gripped her phone tightly, visibly upset. She was not notified. Nor was her team. Surely they had to have known this was going to happen. The studio was a madhouse with everyone working on two anime. It was barely sustainable. Would the people working on _Two Piece_ be terminated early? Without so much as a word of warning from the studio!? They had to have known long before that this was an issue.

Jun Watanabe had to have known. Masato Marukawa had to have known. …did Aoi Miyamori know?

Maybe… It just her time to go?

Shizuka was finally finding work, taking grasp of even the slightest opportunity.

Misa left her last job designing wheels after a few months, something that could have hurt her career, but turned out to do well as she fell right into the job she wanted.

Midori was taking classes at University before she managed to rope herself into Musani, and wasn't studying anything related to anime.

Maybe so?

"Miss Yasuhara? Are you still there?"

"Yes." She replied. "Sorry, I was lost in thought."

"Oh, it's quite alright. Just to show you how committed my superiors are to having you on the team, let's talk salary! We're offering three million yen/year."

She took a deep breath. Maybe indeed it was her time. "When would you like me to start?"

 **[A/N: 3 million yen = 26,657.79 USD OR 23,246.79 Euro, relatively high for the 20 something Ema, as Key Animators don't make much, especially being so young. More on this at the end of the chapter.]**

* * *

 _Saturday, August 11th_

~9:03am

When Shizuka was nervous she played with her hands, and then when she became aware of herself almost rubbing them raw, she began playing with her long stringy red hair. And when she had pulled enough strands out, moved pack to playing with her hands. She was too antsy to stop. Too Fidgety. Too Worried. Too Nervous. Was her outfit ok? Was her hair messy? Did she forget to turn the oven off back at home?

On her left side, sitting as well with her legs crossed, the blonde Inora Kozuki simply tapped away on her phone, appearing as calmly as ever on her side of the taxi.

"Sakaki, you're going to leave a lot of strands of red hair on the seats by the time we get there. I don't think the driver will appreciate that." She began.

"Oh!" Shizuka shook. "I'm sorry." She then returned to wringing her hands.

This did not go unnoticed by Inora. "Are you alright? You seem… tense."

Shizuka wasn't one to give into her temper or let her emotions get the best of her, but if she was, she would have screamed to the high heavens.

Tense? Hell yes she was tense! She was headed to downtown Tokyo to promote the anime, using the platform of the most watched internet anime show in Japan, Anime Fanatics. A promotional clip would play, and she would be interviewed on a live stream! The first time the anime public would ever see her face! What if she said something stupid!? What if she wasn't pretty enough!?

Then later, she was to give lines for the first three episodes of My Wife Speaks Otaku and I Don't, and the first episode was to be delivered in two weeks, meaning she did not have any room to deliver a bad line. It would either end up in her position being replaced quickly, or her line being immortalized in tragedy and being unable to find work afterwards.

To top it off, she was informed that her name was being thrown around after her Two Piece debut, and her role in the hyping up of this anime, as one of the main supporting characters in the worldwide phenomenon, Shinobi Art Online. It wasn't a lot of lines per episode, but it would ensure Shizuka had work for _years_ to come if she managed to get it. And because it wouldn't hurt her schedule, she could balance her schedule easily with more lines at another anime. She NEEDED this.

Oh, and Minato Shimura asked her on a date two days ago, she hadn't said anything since, and his best friend was sitting DIRECTLY NEXT TO HER.

Her heart began to race. Her life was moving far too fast for her to keep up. She enjoyed being desired. She liked that she was going to an interview. She liked that her name was in the hat for anime roles. She liked that Minato thought she was compatible enough for the two to date; she did have to admit she did find him attractive.

But was she ready for more roles?

Was she ready to be seen by the public?

And was she ready for a relationship?

She did not have the answer to any of these questions, and the fact that she didn't know where to start to ensure that she was, made her all the more nervous. It wasn't as if the anime would stop production because she didn't know how to level up in her career. Or as if Minato would stop liking her because she didn't know if she was ready or not. These things were both in and out of her control. She simply-

"Shizuka?" Inora asked.

"Oh, yes!?" Shizuka said snapping out of her trance.

"You're scaring me. Are you sure you're ready to do this?"

"Yes, yes I am!" Shizuka said. "I'm sorry, I have a lot on my mind."

Inora reached for her purse on the floor. "Alright. We'll we're here. So let's get going."

Shizuka shook her head and focused on the task at hand. The taxi pulled to the side of the road, allowing the two women to exit. The two women stood in front of a glass tower, an upper echelon office building. New, and beautiful, and pristine.

But who could she ask for advice?

Aoi? No she was too busy.

Ema? No no, she was also too busy. And something seemed of about her last time they saw each other, like she had a lot on her mind.

Midori? No, she was busy in new love.

"We're heading to Studio Fifteen. Well, let's go promote this anime, Shizuka." Inora smiled. "Also, my babysitter charges by the hour, so we should hurry."

 _Hey, Inora. Minato asked me out. Should I say yes?_

Unfortunately, Shizuka's mind moved yet her mouth didn't.

"Yes, I'm excited!"

* * *

 _Monday, August 13_ _th_

 _~12:03pm_

Masato Marukawa lifted the lid off the pot and smiled.

"Oh, this is perfect."

Walking in, Tsubaki Andou strolled to his side. "What is perfect? What are you cooking?"

"Oh, just my spicy curry." He continued to stir. "I was told that it was the spiciest in Japan in 2006."

Walking in, tapping away at their phone, strolled in the laid back Matsui Oda. "Surely can't be that spicy." He said, reaching for a plastic cup near the sink.

"Oh, feel free to try it." He said, seeking a bowl.

Tsubaki's eyes were widened. "OH!? CAN WE TRY IT!?"

Then a fourth person walked in the kitchen.

"Try what?" Yamada Masashi, the animation director, walked in, grasping a bento box. "Smells, delicious Mister president."

"It's my famous spicy curry!"

Yamada doubled back, fear prevalent on his face. "The spiciest curry in Tokyo as of 2006!?"

"The very same." Marukawa smiled.

Matsui ran the tap water, filling his cup. "Oh, it cannot be that hot."

Tsubaki felt the exact opposite. "Oh please let it be that hot! One bowl! Please!?"

"Feel free to try. Grab a bowl."

Tsubaki almost ripped the nearest cabinet door off the hinges in search for a bowl.

"You as well, Oda?" Marukawa asked.

Before Matsui could answer, Yamada cut him off. "Don't do it! You won't be able to eat food comfortably for a week!"

He squinted his eyes, skeptically. "One bowl? I can't just turn this down."

Yamada backed away in fear. "You don't know what you're walking into!"

The president smiled, hiding a dark secret but appearing as relaxed as ever. He grabbed the two white porcelain bowls, and filled them with the steamy dark yellow liquid.

Tsubaki's eyes glowed as she reached for her spoon.

Matsui was as skeptical as ever as he lifted his spoonful to his face.

And they each took a large bite.

Yamada looked in fear.

The President looked in awe.

As Tsubaki removed the spoon from her mouth, disappointed.

"Awh, I like spicy food." She mumbled, her eyes hitting the floor.

Masato Marukawa sighed. "Maybe I dialed back, or skipped a step."

"It's still very good sir! How do you like it, Oda?"

The entire kitchen focused on Matsui's face.

Swollen. Red. Sweat dripping from every pore he had.

"Erm… Matsui?"

And at that moment, flames shot from his mouth in pain as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

… well not really flames, but everyone there swears he did.

"MY GOD, WHAT IS IN THIS!? BATTERY ACID!?"

Marukawa backed away. "We'll all I used was-"

He dropped his bowl on the floor. "You were trying to kill me old man!"

* * *

 _Wednesday, August 14_ _th_

~8:42am

Sara Satou had grown to loving morning meetings, especially so considering her last job. These meetings were the least hectic part of her day. Her old job was boring, and consisted of charts and spreadsheets. And she was the only one peppy in the morning. Tsubaki Andou was young and probably stayed up later than she should. Hiraoka Daisuke looked always distant, on the rare occasion he showed up to the general meetings Tarou Takanashi looked to also be a night owl. Aoi Miyamori looked as if she never got enough sleep anyways. Erika Yano… it was difficult to get a read on that girl.

"And also…" Aoi continued. "The director was informed that he wishes us to craft a new intro to the anime, to which he will send the music to us later. But he wants us to start the frames. Do any of us have free animators? I don't."

Erika shook her head. "The person I have lightest on work is Iguchi. And she's currently… drowning."

 _Yumi Iguchi sat at her desk, her forehead repeatedly hitting it's surface as she mumbled to herself the following phrases:_

" _I love my job."_

" _You can do this."_

" _It'll all be ok…"_

Tarou Takanashi shrugged. "My episode is in crunch time this week. We'll barely make delivery."

Daisuke Hiraoka also shook his head. "My episode isn't for a while, but due to the pacing of how these episodes are going, I can't afford to have my animators off track."

 _Sitting at his desk, Matsui Oda cursed Daisuke under his breath._

" _Do this, do that, we need this cut like this. Have this cut like that. Freaking jerk."_

Tsubaki Andou sighed as she checked her schedule. "I'd love to take it, but Minato Shimura spent the entire weekend working on his cut, and I'm taking some work to another studio."

"Can't you take it to another studio Miyamori?" Takanashi asked.

"The author asked for it to be done in house." She said.

The entire room groaned.

Sara Staou stepped up. "I think I can have Goth-Loli-Sama work on it. She's working on some _Exodus!_ scenes, but I think I can have her take a break."

"Are you sure?" Miyamori asked. "Ogasawara is quite picky on her workload."

"Absolutely!"

* * *

 _Later that day_

~11:13am

"No. Absolutely not." Ringo replied, not taking her eyes off of the page she was drawing on.

Sara was taken aback. "But this needs to be done."

"Even if I did have the time, I don't have the opening music I need to be drawing with." She replied in that airy voice of hers.

"Yes but-"

"Furthermore, you'd need to call the author back. He hasn't described the color palettes he'd like used. And you'd have to coordinate that with the coloring department before coming to me."

"Indeed, however-"

"In addition," Ringo continued. "These cuts are too heavy, I don't have enough time. Not with these sketches that need to be on Yamada's desk as soon as possible. But even If I had the time-"

Sara cut her off, and set the cut bag on the desk. She bowed, as low as she could to the Key Animator "Please, make it work!"

Ringo Ogasawara clenched her fist so tightly, her pencil snapped, and the entire office space hear it echo off the wall.

* * *

… _ **Previously…**_

 _ **Thursday, August 11**_ _ **th**_

 _ **Minato lost control. He would never get this chance again. "Shizuka!" he yelled.**_

 _ **She stopped her pace and turned to face him.**_

" _ **Yes?"**_

 _ **A handful of people in the area. Cars driving through the intersection. The noisy city surrounding them, and everything seemed to fall silent. Everything melted away. All Minato saw, in this moment, was Shizuka.**_

" _ **I was wondering… would like to go out with me sometime. Like… a date?"**_

 _ **Shizuka's eyes widened. The entire setting melted away. The people walking past her were no longer there. The sounds of Tokyo no longer mattered. The only thing she could see was Minato's face, hidden behind his glasses, nervously and patiently awaiting her answer.**_

 _ **She had no idea what to say. She and Minato weren't friends, they just worked together! This could not have come even more out of left field? Was he drunk? Was she drunk? She didn't have that many?**_

 _ **Maybe she should just walk away.**_

" _ **Um… I'm sorry Minato, I don't know if Im ready for a situation at present. Can I… get back to you on that?"**_

 _ **Not the answer he wanted to hear, but he damn sure wasn't going to turn it down! "Yes, yes. I'm sorry if that came out a little to…blunt. I hope working on the anime won't be awkward. I mean feel free to say no and everything."**_

 _ **Shizuka forced a smile.**_

 _ **And Minato could tell.**_

" _ **I'll need a little bit to think."**_

" _ **Oh, not a problem. That sounds good to me! Have a great night, Shizuka."**_

" _ **You as well, Minato!"**_

* * *

Friday, August 18th

So that's it then, hunh?

Minato Shimura slouched at his desk, staring at his cut. Seven whole days. And not a single response from Shizuka. He didn't expect a yes, he didn't even expect a maybe. But he damn sure expected a response.

And not getting one was soul crushing.

Not only was he not good enough to date her, he wasn't good enough to get an answer.

He rose from the desk, and reached for his wallet he kept at the top shelf of his desk.

"Lunch already, Minato?" Matsui asked.

"Yeah." Minato mumbled. "Just gonna go take a walk and get a bento or something."

Matsui looked concerned. "You ok? You don't sound like you're doing too well."

"I'm fine. Just kinda tired. A lot of uh… cuts to do this week."

Matsui looked at Minato's desk and saw the obvious lie. Minato had enough work sure, but not enough that could even hope to outpace him. Besides, this episode of _Two Piece_ relied on a lot of flashbacks of a previous episode anyways, as part of a murder mystery style episode, most of the episode was fairly done anyways.

Matsui Oda was Minato's best friend since high school, and he knew better than to question it. Minato will talk about it when he's ready.

"Alright. Don't take too long. I don't want Daisuke Hiraoka to yell at you if you take too long."

"Luckily he isn't on my episode."

With that, Minato walked through the studio, into the lobby, and out of the front doors into the blazing August heat. He walked up the block in attempts to clear his head. His phone on silent. Heart on full. Stomach on empty.

 _Damn, Shizuka. You didn't have to do me like that._

Had she declined him, all would be well. And he could move on. But nothing. No words. Ignorance is not always bliss then.

With his mind wandering, his feet took him further than expected, and ate up more of his lunch break than he intended. He sighed heavily again. He would have to buy something and eat it on his way back. Dammit. He wasn't coordinated enough to eat and walk at the same time.

He turned on his heels, upset with himself now, and walked a block south and stopped in the nearest convenience store. He purchased a bag of chips, and resumed his walk. Aimless.

And that is how the rest of the day continued. Few words. Not really hungry. Simply… going through the motions.

And that carried him home. Checking his phone once more before bed, only to be disappointed, he fell off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

 _Saturday, August 19th_

 _~11:33pm_

Shizuka almost threw her phone in the garbage with how nervous it made her staring at it. Her hands fumbling, her eyes staring at the screen of her phone. If her heart could move any faster it would shoot straight through her chest.

She was in a situation she was unprepared for. Handling it in a way she had no idea whether it was correct or not. Minato was a coworker, and situations like that never end up well.

But he was sweet. And kind.

But she wasn't ready.

 _Minato,_

 _I am sorry I haven't written you this week. I'm not avoiding you, I just haven't been ready to date in a while, and I'm very nervous about trying something new with someone else. The last relationship I was in didn't work out very well, and it's kept me from trying._

 _That being said, I'd love to go out with you. I love Spicy Pork Ramen!_

 _\- Shizuka_

She took a deep breath. Threw caution to the wind, and hit "send."

 **Next Time on Love Is Like A Good Anime Right?**

 **Episode Ten "It Was A Gamble I Shouldn't Have Made."**

* * *

 _Two things. The first, THANK YOU FOR READING._

 _The second is to clarify that previous figure of payment I made earlier. In the anime industry, you aren't paid very well, at almost any level. It's very much a "nice" industry. Key Animators don't get paid as much as they, (or we) feel they should. Naturally, your pay goes up the longer you're in the industry. However, it is so demanding producing frames and sketches and designs every week that not many people make it that far._

 _So for Ema, the figures I got were from a Kotaku article on the subject. Where she is paid above average. This is done to simulate how badly she is wanted away from Musashino. Plus, AlphaOne is a play on real life A1 Pictures, and they have the money to do such things. Masuni likely can't match that figure._

 _That is… if Ema turns this into a bidding war. (Which likely won't happen. She isn't that kind of character. As fun as it would be to write that.)_


	10. It Was a Gamble I Shouldn't Have Made

**Chapter Ten**

 **"It Was a Gamble I Shouldn't Have Made."**

 _Musani's uncertain future comes to light, while Minato prepares for his most daunting challenge yet._

 _Saturday, September 1_ _st_

 _~11:20am_

If Minato Shimura thought that working the courage to ask Shizuka Sakaki out was the hard part about dating her, he would have scoffed if you told him the harder part was actually _scheduling_ the date. Between her schedule of delivering lines for _Miharu's Masterpeice_ , her small and recurring role in _Two Piece_ series, and smaller episodic roles that popped up once or twice every few weeks or so, in addition to her part time shifts at the pub, the two communicated almost exclusively through text message.

Fortunately, he was not alone in the frustration. Shizuka Sakaki was becoming increasingly upset about their alternating schedules. She wanted to give Minato a real shot, and didn't want him to resent her constantly having an excuse to not go out. However, he was not absolved from blame either.

Minato practically lived in the depths of Musashino Productions, and on the rare instances he wasn't there, he was busy with Studio Hope working on _Miharu's Masterpeice._ (Which was very well received at launch, although Shizuka wasn't privy to the streaming numbers, just the checks inora handed her.) In fact, the only time the two got to actually spend together was on the free Saturdays after her delivering lines. The two scurried off to get lunch before Sakaki had to take a train to the pub for work, and Minato had more frames to work on. They've only been able to do this three times since Minato expressed interest. Far from being a conventional "date", they were able to engage in casual conversation and learn of each other on somewhat of a deeper level, and at least not be nervous and awkward about seeing the other.

For example, Shizuka's parents are actually supportive of her being a voice actor, despite the over saturation of the position, allowing her to follow her dreams while she was young and not age wondering "what if." Minato had two sisters, and both lived in Shinjuku, working corporate salaried positions for MgRonalds and Sentucky Fried Chicken offices. Shizuka remembered Minato coming into the pub on occasion before she met him, and actually thought he was attractive, but was "turned off" because he sighs a lot. Minato wanted to approach Shizuka because he found her cute, but of course, there is not truly a polite way to approach a woman at work. After all, Minato saw Matsui do it to a waitress, and got smacked and banned from the establishment as a result. Ironically, it would be by the woman he would one day marry.

Shizuka said that it was "all the more reason you should've shot your shot."

As such, this was the plan today.

Minato Shimura adjusted himself as he sat in the uncomfortable chairs of _Studio Ambiance_ , his headphones covering his ears while he made taps on the sound board in front of him. On a black sofa behind him, Matsui Oda sat, sketching frames while an infant slept quietly on the cushion next to him, surrounded by a small pile of blankets. Beyond the soundboard, the soundproof recording room housed three other humans, separated by a thick glass.

The first of the three was the blonde director, Inora Kozuki, paced back and forth, her eyes darting over the paper script and giving orders to the other two people in the booth with her.

"Now the feeling that Junichi will feel in losing the contest is not the dramatic screaming of agony. It's pride shattering. Since we introduced him, he was this big bad tough guy. Now he's downed and feels he is a disgrace to his family. Later he is going to follow Miharu's cooking techniques, and probably get a call to assist her in the second season. So keep that in mind."

The man in glasses and fedora nodded, scribbling notes on his copy of the script, nodding as the director spoke. "Yes. Understood."

Then Director Kozuki turned her attention to the third person in the room. "Sakaki. Even though the odds are against you, and it looks like you don't even have a shot to even be competitive, I need you to sound quietly cocky. As if you knew you were going to win the entire time, and you were not even concerned about the possibility you might fail."

Shizuka scribbled in a paper of her own. "Got it."

"Furthermore, remember this is high school. You two are teenagers. Be dramatic. Play into your emotions. Last episode we came out flat." She walked to a microphone to the left of Shizuka, and read over her copy of the script again, before taking a deep breath. "Remember, I don't voice act, and I'm just being the judge. So go easy on me."

Shizuka laughed. "Of course, director."

Inora took a deep breath. "Ok, I think we're ready. Minato, are we ready? Minato? Minato!?"

Minato snapped out of his trance in staring at Shizuka Sakaki read. He fumbled on the sound board trying to regain himself, as Matsui Oda laughed on the couch behind him.

"Yes! Let me know when you want to start!" he said.

Matsui grinned sneakily. "Nice one, loverboy…."

"Shut up!"

Shizuka chuckled, making a mental note to address it later. She got to her feet, and adjusted the microphone so she didn't have to hunch. She cleared her throat and flipped to the page they would be starting on. Her counterpart did the same.

"Alright." The cool voice of Minato Shimura was heard coming from the other side of the glass.

"We are starting recording in three… two… now."

They saw the red light appear above the glass, signaling that they were free to start.

* * *

 _Junichi Takawara folded his arms and laughed. His heart racing as his opponent brought her dish to their instructor. His menacing demeanor, his cocky stature, and his bulging muscles could intimidate the strongest of students. That pressure in your head that you had to be better. Stronger. Smarter. One step ahead. Once that pressure sets in, mistakes made. Steps are missed. Focus is slipped._

 _If that wasn't enough, then his pedigree sure was enough to scare you. Every male in his family was a five star chef. Every. Single. One. Each of his three brothers, his father, and his father. That alone means people don't challenge him._

 _That is, unless your career had a death wish._

 _Or, unless you were Miharu Yamashida._

 _Miharu approached the counter with a lid over her dish. She was as casual, calm and relaxed as ever. She carried the food tray as if she were a nurse presenting a doctor with surgical tools. Her demeanor wasn't much unlike a doctor, except that she wasn't in the business of healing. She wanted going to surgically dissect Takawara's ego, with the precision of open heart surgery. She didn't just want to win. Just a nod in her direction wouldn't satisfy her needs. No, that would be too easy. She wanted to outright bury him. Make him feel inferior. Force him to his knees and beg for forgiveness for criticizing her impoverished childhood. Making fun of her working parents and her starved siblings._

 _But, spoiler alert, she was fresh out of mercy._

 _She placed her tray on the table, and removed the lid, sending steam and a delicious accompanying vapor spreading through the air of the test kitchen._

" _Miss Fuji," Miharu began. "This is my curry."_

 _Takawara laughed. "Where did you get that? From the dumpster behind Burger Queen?"_

 _Miharu forced herself to ignore that jab. Junichi would be silenced in due time. The red haired student presented a plate of what looked like the most ordinary cut of whitefish, surrounded by a thin bright yellow liquid, and an odd-looking dark yellow rice paste mixture formed into a ball on its surface._

 _Professor Fuji seemed concerned as well. "Excuse me, uh… Miss Yamashida. The theme was 'lemon.' As you see, Mister Takawara submitted a lemon chick-"_

 _Miharu did not flinch. "Yes ma'am, I can assure you I understood the theme."_

 _The air fell deathly silent. The professor in concern. Takawara had his smile painted across the entirety of his face, barely able to contain outright laughter. Only a few more moments, and he could celebrate his victory._

 _That'll teach some low class wretch to question him and his lineage, he thought._

 _Miss Fuji had only heard of Miharu's personal cooking; only taking bites of her food that was prepared during lessons, but never a custom dish. She analyzed the meat, staring at it intently. (Too intently, as if it were to do a backflip or speak.) She savored the aroma. She took her fork and dug into the dish. She used her breath to cool it down, and then took a single bite._

 _Immediately, the room vanished. Fuji found herself in an entirely different space. As far as her eyes could see she, was surrounded by water. She sat in a comfortable deck chair, on the deck of a luxurious yacht, relaxing in her favorite purple bikini. She looked to her right, and could see Miharu Yamashida, in a_ _scalding hot_ _red bikini of her own, feeding her the fish curry. Fuji looked down at her feet, and saw that each of her feet were being thoroughly massaged by muscular men in swimsuits._

 _Only, there was one problem. The man massaging her left foot had the head of a fish, but the chiseled body of a god. The man massaging her right had the head of a lemon, also with the most perfect body she had ever seen. Yet as she opened her mouth to question it, Miharu shoved another mouthful of fish into Fuji's mouth._

 _Miharu leaned into her ear. "Are you enjoying yourself?" she asked seductively._

" _Oh… yes." She moaned, snapping out of her trance._

 _Miharu smiled as she stepped away from the plate. "I am glad you enjoyed it!"_

 _Professor Fuji opened her eyes and back in the test kitchen. Her mouth salivated for another bite. "What… what is this? This isn't lemon pepper fish, but-"_

 _Miharu smiled. "Actually, it is! Technically it's Lemon Curry!"_

 _Fuji and Takawara gasped. "Curry?" they gasped in unison._

 _Miharu nodded. "Yep! What is on top of the fish is lemon rice curry!"_

" _Well it is astounding! How!?"_

" _I knew Takawara was going to use chicken. But with an acidic ingredient like lemon, fish works better. But of course, that's only if you can pull it off. So I had to infuse the cut with more flavor, which is why I decided to make it a curry instead. Plus, I noticed he likes to bake his food. Most meats are best when broiled."_

 _Takawara clenched each and every muscle in his body. "Impossible. There is no way it beat my chicken!"_

 _Fuji looked at the other dish on the table. "Yes, it was very good. But it was… just that. It was good. It was too easy. It lacked passion. It was too… safe."_

 _His eyes almost bulged out of his head. "What… what are you saying? Professor! Who is the victor!?"_

" _I am declaring that the better dish was presented by Miss Yamashida, indisputably so."_

 _Frozen to the spot, Takawara still stood with his arms falling to his side. He was shaking. He was shocked. He was hurt. He refused to believe the result. There is no way he lost to that… that street rat. No. She had to have cheated._

 _Miharu removed the light blue bow tying her hair, and the dark red strands fell down the back of her neck. She turned her head over her shoulder and looked at her opponent._

" _Street rat you called me? I honestly think your dish would have been better if you actually served a street rat."_

 _That final, precise, surgical blow to the ego was all that was required to Junichi to fall to the floor in a heap. "GOD DAMN IIIIIIIIIIIIT!" he screamed, falling to his knees and punching the floor as hard as he could._

 _Miharu looked at him, prideful of her win for sure, but mostly in disgust. Junichi falling to the floor and throwing a tantrum from someone of his family of chefs was unbearably pathetic._

" _Unbelievable." She sneered._

" _SHUT UP!" he snapped. "How? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!? I'm better than you!"_

" _You're better? That's funny, because one of us isn't on the floor graveling."_

" _YOU'RE A PEASANT COMPARED TO ME! THIS ISNT HOW THIS IS SUPPOSED TO GO! I HATE YOU!" he roared._

 _Miharu stepped past him. "Then I've made the mistake. I shouldn't have challenged you. Because moving past the insults, I now see you weren't even worth my time to begin with. Just take the L, it'll be easier."_

 _Professor Fuji stepped in. "That is quite enough, you two!"_

" _What!?" Yamashida took offense to the statement. "I worked him_ _like a stripper pole_ _, and he gets to fall out and throw a tantrum? You know damn well he would be belligerent if he ended up defeating me!"_

" _Yes, but-"_

 _Miharu turned her back. "I thought this was the best culinary academy in the world. I thought people here had some pride." She glared at Junichi on the floor still. "Get off the floor. Grow up, and BE BETTER!"_

 _She then stormed off._

* * *

"WHOOO!" Inora roared. "Great session everyone!"

Shizuka stretched, smiling. "I feel really good about that one!"

Minato turned the red recording light off. "Absolutely. The audio was clear. All of you were very well in character. Nice."

Inora looked at her script. "This episode is gonna be the best yet!" she proclaimed. "We've been working up to this battle since episode one! Shizuka, do you want to grab a bento with me? Matsui is just engaged and weird, and Minato can't because he's lame, and broke."

Minato leaned into the microphone on his end. "Love you too, Nora."

"How about it? Sakaki?" Inora asked.

Shizuka smiled, and took a quick glance at Minato on the other side of the glass. As soon as their eyes met, he looked away, unable to hide his quick face of concern.

"I'm sorry, Director. I have something important I have right after this."

* * *

 _Monday, September 10th_

~11:45am

Aoi Miyamori sat at her desk, typing away emails, and updating her calendar. Returning phone calls. Checking on the episode schedule, taking the entirety of her morning. She was so engrossed in keeping her entire department in check, she barely noticed when received a tap on her shoulder.

She turned around to see the soft eyes and blonde hair of Erika Yano.

"Miyamori. A word? Watanabe wants to see us in the conference room."

Again, any time you are requested by the upper level staff, you are _never_ fond of what follows.

Aoi reluctantly rose from her seat and followed, unsure of exactly where this was headed. She was caught up on all of her work, the studio was… running at least. Therefore, her mind braced for the worst news. What, were they shutting down this time?

Fortunately, the conference room was not full of faces as dreary as the rainy day outside. Jun Watanabe and Kinoshita Seiichi sat at the large conference table. Watanabe on his phone, per usual. You would think it was glued there. Kinoshita sitting beside him, scribbling ideas on a sheet of paper, that may as well been in a foreign language for how illegible it appeared.

Aoi and Erika took their seats, Aoi's heart unable to withstand any more bad news.

Watanabe put his phone away and adjusted his hat. "Well, let's get started." He sighed. "This will be short. The bad news is that we are going to lose _Two Piece_. While the industry is slowly moving to seasonal productions instead of weekly, this anime is too popular and makes too much money for the authors to want to withstand content droughts."

Aoi's heart sank. Erika nodded.

"However," Watanabe continued. "We haven't lost the anime. We have until the end of the season, as our contract stated. At the end of our run, we are to turn over all background designs, character designs, key frames and color palettes. They want as smooth a transition as they can get."

Aoi found a good smile, if only for a moment. She wouldn't have to turn away the staff prematurely. And for that, she found a big victory in a studio as small as theirs. The newcomers would have time to prepare for their departure from the studio, and possibly get full time positions in the studio.

"Then we shift to _Exodus!_?" Erika asked.

Jun Watanabe nodded. "Precisely. We have Kinoshita pulling double time so we can get it aired this summer. As for _Bordertown Depopulation Girl_ , I am barking up trees trying to ship the script around to see who wants to give it the green light."

Aoi asked. "So where do we go from here?"

Watanabe connected with Aoi's blue orbs. "Well, the hardest part is about to come. Dire straits for the studio."

Yano, Seiichi, and Miyamori looked confused. "How?" they asked in unison.

"Retention." He responded.

"But the new comers are contracted until the end of the season." Aoi said. "I don't understand."

"The anime studio getting _Two Piece_ is Alpha One Pictures. It's fairly common for bigger studios acquiring anime to poach talent from smaller studios that were already familiar with it. Such as producers, and most notably animators."

Aoi gasped. Before she could stop herself, her mouth released one word. "Yasuhara."

Erika hung her head. "Yeah, I imagine they're getting ready to approach her. They've already contacted both Hiroaka and myself."

Watanabe sighed. "Expect a call Miyamori. But just know, if the offer is attractive, the studio bears no ill will against you if you jump ship. There will always be a place for you at Musani."

Aoi defiantly stated. "No, I won't go."

* * *

 _Friday, September 14th_

~6:30pm

Minato Shimura stood in front of the mirror, with Inora Kozuki sitting behind him.

"Well, you look quite spiffy. If I do say so myself." Inora said, rocking an infant in her arms. "Thank you for taking care of Hope today."

"It's fine." He replied. "I got to catch upon some frames for Miharu. Plus, Shizuka stays closer to here."

Inora made such a large grin Minato almost shuddered. "It's weird to see you in the dating pool. I thought for sure you were going to get an apartment with six cats and be done with it."

"I thought for sure you were gonna shut up." Minato quipped back.

"Where are you taking her?" Inora asked, pleased with herself.

"We are going to go look at cats in the shelter, because she likes cats. Then we're going to get spicy ramen. At that one shop you showed me, by the train station."

"That sounds cute."

"Works perfectly, because it'll take her straight home, and it's a few blocks away from me."

Inora replied. "If you're fifteen, I mean. You didn't let me finish."

"It's a first date!" Minato shouted defensively. "And dinner and a movie is too cliché."

"I'm just surprised you asked her." Inora said. "She's pretty. Your last girlfriend was in high school, and boy was she ug-"

"I know, you can stop at any time!" Minato said. "I am full aware, it is a gamble I shouldn't have taken. I get it."

"You are testy this evening." Inora said slyly.

"Well it's not every day I get a hot date with a hot girl, only to get hot words thrown at me by my best friend. Usually I just sit around hot girls and draw all day."

Inora smiled. "Well I hope this hot girl works out."

"You and me both." He said.

"Just be careful. Because if you get too excited, then… you know."

Inora looked into her arms at, Hope, the sleeping infant.

"Oh…" Minato said, understanding it, but not sure how to reply. "Thank you, Inora."

He began to file out of the room awkwardly.

"And don't forget to give her complements!" she rang out.

"Well aware, Inora. Thank you." He hustled to the apartment door.

"And don't forget to wear clean underwear!" she yelled.

"THANK YOU INORA!" he replied before slamming the door.

 **Next time on Love Is Like a Good Anime Right?**

 **Episode Eleven "Perfect"**

* * *

Authors Note:

Thank you all for reading.

It has struck me that story has been ongoing since 2015. 2015! I remember writing scenes and concepts this on scraps of cardboard at my old job.

So, this is a perfect time to announce this. The end is in sight on the series, and I am going to see it through in a timely manner. Soon. There are going to be only _three more chapters_ until this story is complete.

See, originally, I was going to do about 17 to 20. The plan was to cover Musashino Productions working on Two Piece, and Exodus, with the last chapter being a celebration on them starting Bordertown Depopulation Girl, and some cute Minato/Shizuka. But as I began writing it, I realized that it would be forever until I got around to finishing it. Plus, in the amine Musani only works on one anime per season, and I wanted to keep that structure.

Unfortunately, the romance I wanted is going to feel rushed. I'll have to really buckle down and write some of the best work I have ever created to make that trade off worth it.

So, keeping with the anime, I decided on 12 chapters, but at the last minute made it 13. Chapter 10 and 11 were originally the same chapter, focusing mostly on Minato and Shizuka, and touching on the future of the studio lightly, simply to set it up for the final two chapters. But at the last minute, I decided to split them, so 11 is all about Minato and Shizukas first date (which will be a READ, trust me) and I expanded on chapter 10, adding two extra scenes to make it worth the read. Then 12 and 13 will serve as the highest points of both plot, and romanticism, and will carry us out towards the end, and the future.

Thank you so much for reading. Until next we meet.


End file.
